A—  U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

Q  ^^  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY.— BULI.KTIN  No.  90. 

11  A.   D.  Mhl.VIN,  (.inn    oh  BUREAU. 

ol 


:        POULTRY  INVESTIGATIONS 

AT  THE 

MAINE  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT 
STATION. 

BY  / 

CHARLES  D.  WOODS,  Sc.  D., 

Director,  Maine  Agricultural  /Experiment  Station, 

• 

AND 

GILBERT   M.  GOWELL,   M.  S., 

/;/  Charge  of  Poultry  Investigations, 
Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT    PRINTING   OFFICE. 

1906. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 


A.  D.  MEIAMX. 

Chief:  A.  M.  FAKKIMITON. 
(  'hief  (  '/IT/::   K.  15.  JONES. 

/>«//•//  Dirixiuii:  Mi).  11.  WKBSTKK,  chief;  CLARENCE  P>.  LANK,  assistant  chief. 
!/!.•</><  ctinit  Dlrixiun:  KICK   P.  STKDDOM,  chief;   I',   (i.  HOUCK,  associate  chief;  MORRIS 

\VOODKN,  assistant  chief. 

(Jutiroiitinc  Dirixioii:  KICHAKD  W.  HICKMAN,  chief. 
Animal  llnxl>ait<lni<i>i:  GEORGE  M.  ROMMEL. 
Kililor:  JAMKS  M.  PIC-KENS. 
J  /•//.*/.•  \V.  S.  I).  HAINES. 
Lihrnriun:  BEATRICE  C.  OBEKLY. 

LABORATORIES. 


Dirixion:  MARION  DORSET,  chief. 
Pathological  Dirixion:  JOHN  R.  MOHLER,  chief. 
Zoological  Division:  BRAYTON  H.  RANSOM,  scientific  assistant  in  charge. 

EXPERIMENT    STATION. 

E.  C.  SCHROEDER,  superintendent;  "W.  E.  COTTON,  assistant. 

MEAT    INSPECTION. 

Inspectors  in  charge. 


Arkansas  City,  Kans.— Dr.  R.  W.  Tuck,  care  Hen- 
neberry  &  Co. 

Austin.  Minn.— Dr.  M.  O.  Anderson,  care  George 
A.  Hormel  &  Co-. 

Baltimore,  Md.— Dr.  H.  A.  Hedrick,  215  St.  Paul 
street. 

Bloomington,  111. — Dr.  Frederick  Braginton,  care 
Continental  Pa-cking  Company. 

Boston,  Mass.— Dr.  J.  F.  Ryder.  141  Milk  street. 

Bright  wood,  Mass.— Dr.  \V.. I.  Murphy,  care  Spring- 
field  Provision  Company. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.— Dr.  B.  P.  Wcnde,  Live  Stock  Ex- 
change Building,  East  Buffalo. 

Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa.— Dr.  T.  A.  Shipley,  care  T.  M. 
Sinclair  &  Co. 

Chicago,  111.— Dr.  S.  E.  Bennett,  room  316  Ex- 
change Building,  I'nion  Stock  Yards. 

Cincinnati.  Ohio. —Dr.  A.  G.  G.  Richardson,  care 
Union  Stock  Yards. 

Cleveland,  Ohio.— Dr.  E.  P.  Schaffter,  care  Cleve- 
land Provision  Company. 

Davenport,  Iowa.— Dr.  E.'L.  Bertram,  care  Henry 
Kohrs  Packing  Company, 

Denver,  Colo. — Dr.  W.  E.  Howe,  care  Western 
Packing  Company. 

Dos  Moities,  Iowa.— Dr.  Chester  Miller,  care  The 
Agar  Packing  Company. 

Detroit,  Mich. — Dr.  L.  K.  Green,  care  Hammond, 
Standish  &  Co. 

Eau  Claire.  \Vis.— Dr.  G.  W.  Butler,  care  Drum- 
mond  Brother;-. 

Fort  Worth,  Tex.— Dr.  A.  H.  Wallace,  care  Swift 
&Co. 

Hutchinson,  Kans. — Dr.  J.  E.  Blackwell,  care 
Hutchinson  Packing  Company. 

Indianapolis,  Ind. — Dr.  N.  C.  Sorensen,  care  Kin- 
gan  A:  Co. 

Jersey  City,  N.  J.— Dr.  Julius  Huelsen,  care  The 
Jersey  City  Stock  Yard  Company. 

Kansas'  City,  Kans.— Dr.  L.  R.  Baker,  room  338 
Live  Stock  Exchange. 

Lafayette,  Ind. — Dr.  J.  E.  Cloud,  care  Kern  Pack- 
ing Company. 

Los  Angeles,  Cal.— Dr.  A.  E.  Rishel,  care  Cudahy 
Packing  Company. 

Louisville.  Ky.— Dr.  H.  H.  George,  r>07  Johnson 
street. 

Mankato,  Minn.— Dr.  H.  H.  Dell,  care  Macbeth  & 
Gardner. 

Marshalltown,  Iowa. — Dr.  J.  O.  F.  Price,  care 
Brittain  &  Co. 

Mason  City.  Iowa. — Dr.  Robeit  Jay,  care  Jacob  E. 
Decker  &,  Sons. 


Milwaukee, Wis.— Dr.  A.  E.  Behnke,  room  432  Fed- 
eral Building. 

Nashville.  Tenn.— Dr.  \V.  B.  Lincoln,  care  Ten- 
nessee Packing  and  Provision  Company. 
National  Stock  Yards,  111.— Dr.  .).  B.  Clancy. 
Nebraska  City,  Nebr.— Dr.  W.  H.Gibbs,  care  Mor- 
ton-Gregson  Company. 
Newark,  N.  J.— Dr.  A.  F.  Martins,  care  Swift  & 

Co.,  Harrison  station. 
New  Haven.  Conn. — Dr.  Albert  Long,  care  sperry 

&  Barnes. 
New    York,  N.  Y.— Dr.  II.    N.  Waller,    109   West 

Forty-second  street. 
Oklahoma,  Okla.— Dr.  Raymond  Johnson,  P.  O. 

box  128.\ 
Ottumwa.  Iowa.— Dr.  Joshua  Miller,  care  John 

Morrell  &  Co. 
Philadelphia,  Pa.— Dr.  C.  A.  Schaufler.  134  South 

Second  street. 
Pittsburg,  Pa.— Dr.  F.  W.  Ainsworth,  Union  Stock 

Yards. 
Portland,  Oreg.— Dr.  Clarence  Lovebcrry,  room 

402  Custom-IIouse  (new). 
Quincy.Ill.— Dr.  J.S.Kelly, care Blohier A:  Michael 

Company. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. — Dr.  J.  J.  Brougham,  care  Missouri 

Stock  Yards  Company. 
San  Diego,  Cal.— Dr.  Robert  Darling,  care  Charles 

S.  Hardy. 
San  Francisco,  Cal.— Dr.  George  S.  Baker,  care 

Western  Meat  Company. 
Seattle,  Wash  —Dr.  O.  B.  Hess,  care  Frye-Bruhn 

Company. 
Sioux  City,  Iowa. — Dr.  G.  A.  Johnson,  Exchange 

Building. 
Sioux  Falls.  S.  Dak.— Dr.  H.  Busman,  care  Sioux 

Falls  Packing  Company. 
South    Omaha,   Nebr.— Dr.    Don    C.    Aver,    Post- 

(  mice  building. 

South  St.  Joseph.  Mo.— Dr.  George  Ditewig. 
South  St.  Paul,  Minn.— Dr.  F.  D.  Ketchum. 
Tacoma.  Wash.— Dr.  E.  C.  Joss,  care  Carstens 

Packing  Company. 
Topeka.  Kans.— Dr.  F.  L.  De  Wolf,  care  Charles 

WolrT  Packing  Company. 
Waterloo.  Iowa.— Dr.  T.  W.  Scott,  care  The  Rath 

Packing  Company. 
Wichita.  Kans.— Dr.  W.  N.  Neil,  care  John  Cud 

ahy  Company. 
Worcester,  Mass.— Dr.  E.  1'.  Dowd,  care  White, 

Pevey  &  Dexter  Company. 


(Concluded  on  p.  3  of  cover.) 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY.— BULLETIN  No.  90. 

A.   D.  MELVIN,  CHIEF  OF  BUREAU. 


POULTRY  INVESTIGATIONS 

AT  THE 

MAINE  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT 
STATION. 


BY 


CHARLES  D.  WOODS,  Sc.  D., 

Director,  Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
AND 

GILBERT   M.  GOWELL,  M.  S., 

In  Charge  of  Poultry  Investigations, 
Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT    PRINTING   OFFICE. 

1906, 


ANIMAL  HUSBANDRY  OFFICE,  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 


ADMINISTRATIVE   STAFF. 

Animal  Husbandman:  George  M.  Rommel. 

Assistant  Animal  Husbandman:  G.  Arthur  Bell. 

Supervision  of  pedigree  record  associations:  George  R.  Samson,  herdbook  assistant. 

Poultry  investigations:  Rob  R.  Slocum,  poultry  assistant. 

Hog  investigations:  L.  R.  Davies,  assistant. 

Animal  breeding  investigations:  E.  H.  Riley,  assistant. 

COOPERATIVE   STAFF. 

Animal  nutrition  investigations:  H.  P.  Armsby,  expert  in  charge;  J.  August  Fries, 

W.  W.  Braman,  F.  W.  Christensen,  assistants. 

Beef  production  in  the  South:  J.  F.  Duggar,  expert  in  charge;  W.  F.  Ward,  assistant. 
Horse  breeding  investigations:  W.  L.  Carlyle,  expert  in   charge  of  Colorado   work; 

W.  F.  Hammond,  expert  in  charge  ot  Vermont  work. 
Poultry  breeding  investigations:  Gilbert  M.  Gowell,  expert  in  charge. 
Turkey  breeding  investigations:  Leon  J.  Cole,  expert  in  charge;  F.  W.  Kirkpatrick, 

assistant. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY, 

Washington.,  D.  <?.,  July  16,  1906. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  manuscript  entitled 
"Poultry  Investigations  at  the  Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion," by  Profs.  Charles  D.  Woods  and  Gilbert  M.  Gowell,  of  that 
station.  This  is  a  revision  of  Bulletin  No.  100  of  the  Maine  Station, 
and  describes  the  methods  used  there  in  poultry  breeding  and  manage- 
ment. This  work  is  now  being  done  in  cooperation  with  this  Bureau. 
As  the  results  already  accomplished  are  of  great  value  to  poultry- 
men  and  there  is  a  general  demand  for  information  as  to  the  methods 
employed,  I  recommend  the  publication  of  this  paper  as  a  bulletin  of 
this  Bureau. 

Respectfully, 

A.  D.  MELVIN, 

Chief  of  Bureau. 
Hon.  JAMES  WILSON, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

3 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Introductory 7 

Breeding  for  increased  egg  production 7 

Pedigree  charts 9  . 

Selection  of  breeding  stock 11 

Method  used  at  the  Maine  Station 11 

Other  methods  of  selecting  breeding  stock 14 

Early  laying  a  valuable  indication 15 

Poultry  management 16 

Raising  chickens  by  natural  processes 16 

Raising  chickens  by  artificial  processes 18 

The  incubator 18 

The  incubator  room • 19 

Brooder  houses 19 

Treatment  of  young  chicks 21 

Feeding  the  chicks 22 

Feeding  chickens  on  the  range 23 

The  feeding  trough '. 24 

Feeding  the  cockerels-for  market 25 

Housing  the  hens 27 

The  warmed  house 27 

The  roosting-closet  house 28 

Curtain-front  houses 29 

The  latest  form  of  curtain-front  house 32 

Satisfactory  results  with  curtain-front  houses 35 

The  yards 35 

Trap  nests 36 

Feeding  the  hens 37 

Cracked  corn  and  beef  scrap  as  a  substitute  for  moist  mash 38 

Dry  feeding 39 

Size  of  flocks  and  housing  space 41 

5 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

PLATE!.  Fig.  1. — Incubator  house.     Fig.  2. — Pioneer  roosting-closet  house 20 

2.  Brooder  houses  on  the  range 20 

3.  Poultry  houses 28 

4.  Interior  of  curtain-front  poultry  house  No.  2 30 

5.  The  latest  curtain-front  poultry  house 32 

TEXT   FIGURES. 

FIG.  1.  Chicken  feeding  trough,  accessible  from  both  sides,  with  cover  on 24 

2.  Chicken  feeding  trough  with  cover  removed 25 

6 


POULTRY  INVESTIGATIONS  AT  THE  MAINE  AGRICUL- 
TURAL EXPERIMENT  STATION. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

For  many  years  poultry  work  has  been  carried  on  at  the  University 
of  Maine.  It  was  not,  however,  until  1897  that  the  Maine  Experiment 
Station  decided  to  begin  a  series  of  poultry  investigations  on  a  some- 
what extended  scale.  Since  1904  this  work  has  been  carried  on  in 
cooperation  with  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture.  The  details  of  the  results  will  be  pub- 
lished, when  completed,  in  a  bulletin  of  this  Bureau.  Although  the 
principal  object  of  the  present  bulletin  is  to  state  the  methods  of 
poultry  management  practiced  at  the  Maine  Experiment  Station,  it 
may  not  be  amiss,  because  of  the  great  interest  which  has  developed 
in  the  matter,  to  report  here  a  brief  summary  of  the  results  thus  far 
obtained  in  the  experiments  in  breeding  for  egg  production. 

In  1897  the  Maine  Station  erected  a  poultr}^  house  150  feet  by  16 
feet,  a  brooder  house  60  feet  by  14  feet,  and  a  half  dozen  small 
movable  brooder  houses.  The  plant  was  constructed  for  the  purpose 
of  investigation,  and  many  experiments,  chiefly  feeding,  were  under 
way  in  the  winter  of  1897-98.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1898  this 
poultry  plant  was  entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  but  the  larger  part  of 
the  stock  was  saved.  Of  course  the  experiments  thus  interrupted 
did  not  give  definite  results,  but  the  records  of  the  pens  and  careful 
observation  of  the  birds  showed  marked  differences  in  the  egg  pro- 
duction, which  led  to  a  change  in  the  plan  and  scope  of  the  inves- 
tigations. These  birds  were  from  stock  that  had  been  bred  at  the 
experiment  station  for  many  years. 

BREEDING  FOR  INCREASED  EGG  PRODUCTION. 

When  the  poultry  plant  was  rebuilt  in  1898  it  was  decided  to  give 
up  for  the  present  definite  feeding  experiments  and  to  confine  the  work 
of  the  station  for  several  years  to  the  problem:  Can  egg  production 
be  increased  by  breeding  and  selection  ?  This  work,  which  was  begun 
in  1898,  has  been  continued  without  interruption. 

In  breeding  poultry  such  wonderful  changes  have  been  made  in  form 
and  feather  that  it  seems  to  have  been  demonstrated  that  at  least  in 
these  particulars  the  laws  of  inheritance  and  transmission  are  as  true 
with  poultry  as  with  cattle,  sheep,  and  horses.  Many  attempts  have 
been  made  to  improve  egg  production  by  breeding.  This  work  has 
4906— No.  90—00 2  7 


8  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

been  done  mostly  with  flocks  rather  than  with  individual  fowls,  in 
much  the  same  way  as  if  an  attempt  were  made  to  improve  the  milk 
production  of  a  herd  by  basing  the  breeding  upon  the  milk  and  butter 
production  of  the  herd  as  a  whole,  without  reference  to  the  work  of 
the  individual  animals.  While  numerous  related  problems  have  arisen 
in  connection  with  the  work  and  some  side  questions  have  been  studied, 
nothing  has  been  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  original  plan  of  breed- 
ing for  increased  egg  production. 

This  work  was  begun  with  three  different  varieties — Barred  Ply- 
mouth Rock,  White  Wyandotte,  and  Light  Brahma.  With  the  par- 
ticular strains  at  the  Maine  Station,  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock 
seemed  the  most  promising,  and,  as  the  problems  became  compli- 
cated, the  work  was  reduced  to  this  one  variety. 

The  plans  followed  in  this  breeding  work  are  based  upon  everyday, 
practical  common  sense,  and  are  the  same  as  would  be  used  in  build- 
ing up  a  high-producing  strain  of  dairy  animals.  Individual  records 
of  performance  are  kept.  The  large  producers  are  mated  with  sons 
of  large  producers  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  race  of  improved  layers. 
In  the  first  year's  work  three  birds  laid  over  200  eggs  each,  and  this 
fact  led  to  the  adoption  of  that  number  of  eggs  as  the  minimum  per- 
formance for  a  "registered"  bird.  Other  than  this  there  was  no  rea- 
son for  selecting  200  as  the  number  of  eggs  necessary  to  entitle  a  bird 
to  registration.  Any  other  number,  as  190  or  210,  might  have  been 
taken  with  equal  propriety,  just  as  horsemen  might  have  selected  some 
other  time  than  2.30  by  which  to  determine  a  standard  horse. 

The  purpose  of  this  work  should  not  be  misunderstood.  It  was  not 
attempted  to  breed  stock  that  would  average  a  yield  of  200  eggs  per 
year.  This  is  a  high  record — much  higher,  probably,  than  large 
flocks  will  be  made  to  average.  If  the  average  yield  of  the  hens  of 
the  breed  should  be  increased  to  the  extent  of  a  dozen  eggs  per  bird 
the  value  of  the  work  would  be  many  times  its  cost. 

In  this  investigation  inbreeding  is  strictly  guarded  against,  as  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  inbred  hen  has  sufficient  constitution  to  enable  her  to 
withstand  the  demands  of  heav}7  egg  yielding.  During  only  one  sea- 
son have  birds  as  closely  related  as  first  cousins  been  bred  together. 
Line  breeding  is  followed,  the  mating*  now  being  only  with  distantly 
related  birds.  These  breeding  investigations  have  been  ifi  progress 
for  seven  years.  The  first  year  was  consumed  in  testing  pullets  to 
find  foundation  stock.  The  second  year  cockerels  were  raised  from 
the  large-laying  hens  for  future  breeding,  and  the  third  year  the  first 
lots  of  pullets  were  raised  from  the  selected  stock,  so  that  there  are 
only  the  last  four  years  in  which  to  note  results,  and  these  four  years 
can  only  show  the  first  changes  that  have  taken  place.  The  stock  com- 
menced with  was  well  bred,  as  flocks  generally  go.  The  hens  averaged 
about  120  good  brown  eggs  a  year,  and  had  been  doing  so  for  several 
years. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  9 

PEDIGREE    CHARTS. 

In  order  to  make  clear  the  methods  of  breeding  and  registering 
employed,  there  are  given  two  pedigree  charts  which  illustrate  the 
breeding  of  the  two  classes  of  birds  which  are  designated  as  "regis- 
tered" and  "unregistered."  These  terms  are  not  used  with  reference 
to  purity  of  blood,  for  the  strain  used  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  fami- 
lies of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks,  having  been  bred  at  the  University  of 
Maine  for  twenty -five  years  from  the  best  "  Barred  Rock"  stock  which 
was  procurable  at  the  time  of  starting.  Every  one  of  the  birds  is 
purebred  in  the  same  sense  that  all  registered  cattle,  horses,  sheep, 
and  swine  are  purebred. 

Each  of  the  hens  is  numbered  with  duplicate  bands,  and  individual 
book  accounts  are  kept,  whether  she  produces  much  or  little.  The 
same  is  true  of  all  males  so  far  as  purity  of  blood  is  concerned. 

In  this  work  the  term  "registered"  is  used  solely  with  reference  to 
performance,  which  in  work  with  Jersey  or  Holstein  cattle  would 
mean  registered  in  the  "advanced  registers"  of  those  breeds.  No 
female  has  been  registered  unless  she  had  laid  200  or  more  large  dark- 
brown  eggs  during  the  first  twelve  months  from  the  day  on  which  she 
laid  her  first  egg.  None  of  her  daughters  have  been  registered  unless 
the}r  themselves  had  laid  at  least  200  eggs  in  their  first  laying  year. 

All  of  the  sons  of  registered  hens  are  registered  and  are  designated 
as  registered  males.  They  are  no  better  bred  than  their  own  sisters 
which  are  rejected  from  registry  when  they  do  not  prove  to  be  heavy 
performers.  Were  there  some  practicable  means  to  determine  the 
ability  of  the  male  to  transmit  to  his  offspring  the  high  egg-producing 
function  of  his  dam,  the  same  rigid  rule  of  selection  would  be  applied 
to  him  that  is  applied  to  his  sisters. 

The  unregistered  cockerels  and  pullets  are  as  well  bred  on  their 
sires'  side  as  the  registered  ones  are,  but,  while  the  registered  ones 
have  dams  that  produced  200  eggs  or  over,  the  dams  of  the  unregis- 
tered ones  laid  from  160  to  199  eggs  in  their  first  laying  year.  It  is 
among  these  unregistered  pullets  that  the  most  of  the  200- egg  pro- 
ducers that  are  each  year  added  to  the  foundation  breeding  stock  have 
been  found. 

The  diagrams  shown  are  given  only  as  examples  of  the  breeding.  In 
the  male  breeding  pens  nearly  30  different  hens  are  employed,  which 
give  as  many  different  pedigrees.  In  the  unregistered  female  breeding 
pens  are  several  hundred  breeding  hens,  each  giving  pedigrees  to  their 
progeny.  In  the  diagram  illustrating  the  breeding  of  the  registered 
males  it  is  shown  that  the  dams  and  their  dams  were  both  producers 
of  over  200  eggs.  Only  two  other  similar  instances  where  the  daughters 
of  200-egg  producers  are  themselves  200-egg  producers  have  been 
found.  That  more  instances  of  this  kind  have  not  occurred  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  hen  that  laid  heavih^  her  first  year  did  not  commence 
laying  until  so  late  the  following  year  that  her  pullets  came  into  laying 
too  late  in  the  year  to  make  great  records  for  themselves  in  the  twelve 
months  from  November  1. 


10 


POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 


The  first  diagram  shows  the  breeding  of  the  registered  males  that 
were  raised  in  the  breeding  year  of  1905.  The  registered  males  are 
designated  by  numbers.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  dam  and  the  grandam 
of  the  registered  males  are  registered  birds  in  the  sense  in  which  we 
use  the  word,  the  dam  having  yielded  203  and  the  grandam  213  eggs 
in  their  first  laying  years.  Bej^ond  that,  while  the  birds  are  purebred, 
their  breeding  is  not  known  except  that  their  dams  laid  not  less  than 
160  and  not  more  than  199  eggs  in  their  first  laying  years.  The  breed- 
ing of  the  unregistered  males  and  females  raised  in  1905  differs  from 
the  registered  in  that  none  of  the  mothers  of  the  unregistered  birds 
have  laid  over  199  eggs  in  their  first  laying  year. 

Diagram  illustrating  breeding  of  registered  males  raised  in  1905. a 


Registered 

males 

raised  in 

1905. 


No.  304.... 


No.  165.... 


No.  CG 


No.  205  A. 

(225) 


No.  1003(240). 


No.  61 


[No.  44 
-41 \ 

INO.  30; 

JNo.  2* 

""iNo.  - 

JNo. 

[NO. 


No.286(206J 


No.  676  (209) 


No.  52 


No. — (150-(199) 


303  (208).... < 

' JN6."286"(206J 

(150  to  199)1 

18 {No."ibi'(204J 

326(211).....! 

•21 {N~6."2S6'(266J 

.  —  (150-199)1  - 


No.  40 


No.  635  (201) 


JNo. 

""iNo. 

JNo.  24 

"iNo. — 


318  (237).... {• 


No.  101  (204) 


-\No.  101  (204) 


(150-199 W 


No.   520 
.    (203) 


No.  —  (150-199) 


No.  51 


No.  36,  37,  38,  orlNo>  17  ..........  {N"6."lbi"(204J 

[No.  318(237)....]-- 


No.  

199). 


INo.  —  (150-199) 


(No.  17  . . . 

<To.  40 { 

INo.  318  (5 

JNo.  24  . 
'JNo.  — 


318(237).... 


No.  101  (204) 


.  635(201) 


(150-199){- 


•\No.  101  (204) 


No.   1001 
(213) 


No.  1003  (240)... 


No.  62 


No.  52, 
55. 

53,  54,  orlNo*  18  

No.  101  (204) 

[No.  326r211  

No.  — 

No.  286  (206) 

ro.  41 

No.  286  (206) 
1 

INO.  303  (208)  

[  

fNo.  29  ... 

.  676(209).... 


No. 


No.  —  (150-199) 


No.  45,  46,  47,  or|N°-  24 \No.  101  (204) 

1318(237) 1 


INo.  13  .... 
No.  —  ( 150-199 K 

U\o.  —  (150-199) 


r 

\No.  286  (206) 


a  The  upper  number  of  each  pair  refers  to  the  male  (sire)  and  the  lower  number  to  the  female 
(dam).  The  figures  in  parentheses  below  or  at  the  right  of  the  number  of  the  hen  indicate  the  egg 
yield  for  the  first  laying  year. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  ll 

Diagram  illustrating  breeding  of  unregistered  males  and  females  raised  in  1905. a 


No.  160 


Unregistered 
males  and 
females 
raised  in 
1905. 


No.  224 

(222) 


•No. 
No. 
No. 

(No. 
41  ] 

[NO. 

(No 
676(209)....] 
(No. 

(No. 
52..,    ...] 

303(208).... 

No.  286  (206) 

No.  1003  (240)... 
No.  61  

—  (150-199) 

No.  286  (206) 

326  (211)....  < 

91 

No.  101  (204) 

INo. 

(No. 
No.  (150-199)] 
[No. 

(No. 
No.  40  ] 
INo. 

(No. 
No.  635(201)....] 

INO. 

(No. 

Nos.  36,  37,38,  or] 
39.         (No. 

(No. 

No.  (150-199)] 

[NO. 

21  < 
—  (150-199)< 

No.  286  (206) 

318  (237).... 

No.  101  (204) 

No.  —  (150-199) 

—  (150-199)^ 

No.  101  (204) 

il  1 
318  (237)....  < 
•>i 

[No.  101  (204) 





24  

—  (150-199) 

No.  286  (206) 

No.  159  .... 


No.  — 
(150-199) 


No.  51 


fNo.  17 ] 

318(237)....] 


(150-199 K 


NO.  1003  (240) . .  J 


No. — 

(150-199) 


No.  62 


(No. 
*0.40 ] 

INO. 

(No.  24 
^o.  635  (201)....] 

[NO.  — 

(No.  18  ... 

*os.  52,  63,  54,  or]                                 Ko'  ' 
55.  [No.  326  (211) ] 

(No.  21  . . 

?o. (150-199)] 

[No. (150-199)|---- 

{No.  44  .. 
INo. 
No.  303  (208). ...]•••• 


(204) 


No.  201  (204) 


286  (206) 


No.  676  (209) 


INo.  29  . 
...  J 
INo. 


(150-199)| 


/; 

'\No.  286  (206) 


No.  —  (150-199) 


°' 


Nos.  45, 46,  47,  ori 

[No.  318  (237).... | ' 


lo 


48. 


(No.  13 twU'fflM  ;.">A^ 

No.  —  (150-199)]  }No-  28b  (-06) 

[No.  —  (150-199)  j" 

iThe  upper  numbcjr  of  each  pair  refers  to  the  male  (sire)  and  the  lower  number  to  the  female 
(dam).  The  figures  in  parentheses  below  or  at  the  right  of  the  numbers  of  the  hens  indicate  the  egg 
yield  for  the  first  laying  year. 

SELECTION  OF  BREEDING  STOCK. 
METHOD   USED   AT  THE   MAINE   STATION. 

n  order  to  select  good  producing  hens  for  foundation  breeding 
stock,  52  of  the  trap  nests  described  on  page  36  were  placed  in  the 
laying  pens,  where  140  pullets  hatched  in  April  and  May  commenced 
using  them  November  1,  1898.  In  one  year  from  that  date  the  140 
birds  laid  an  average  of  120  eggs  each.  Twenty-four  laid  over  160 
each  and  22  less  than  100  each.  Hen  No.  36  laid  201  eggs;  No.  101 


12  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

laid  204,  and  No.  286  laid  206  eggs.  The  eggs  of  No.  36  were  light  in 
color,"  and  she  was  therefore  rejected  as  a  breeder. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  next  breeding  season  Nos.  101  and  286 
were  mated  with  males  that  were  unrelated  to  them  or  to  each  other. 
The  cockerels  raised  from  the  eggs  of  these  two  birds  were  the  first 
males  produced  for  use  in  this  work. 

November  1,  1899,  160  pullets  were  placed  in  the  testing  pens.  In 
the  year  beginning  with  that  date  they  laid  an  average  of  132  eggs 
each.  Three  laid  over  200  eggs,  and  19  laid  over  160  eggs. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1901  several  sons  of  hen  No.  286,  raised  the 
previous  year,  were  mated  with  the  24  2-year-old  hens  that  each  laid 
160  eggs  and  over  during  1898-99,  and  25  others  that  each  laid  160  eggs 
or  over  during  the  1899-1900  test.  That  season  (1901)  hen  No.  303, 
which  had  laid  208  eggs  during  1899-1900,  was  bred  to  a  son  of  No. 
286.  Hen  No.  326  had  laid  211  eggs  during  1899-1900,  and  she  also 
was  bred  to  a  son  of  No.  286.  No.  318  had  laid  237  good  brown  eggs 
in  1899-1900;  and  after  she  had  laid  200  eggs,  the  next  dozen  she  laid 
weighed  1  pound  11^  ounces.  She  was  bred  to  a  son  of  No.  101  that 
season.  The  sons  of  Nos.  101  and  286  were  in  service  only  during  the 
spring  of  1901. 

During  1900-1901  100  pullets  were  tested  for  additional  foundation 
stock  and  yielded  an  average  of  132  eggs  each.  Twelve  birds  laid 
over  200  eggs  each,  the  highest  number  being  251  eggs,  laid  by  hen 
No.  617.  In  the  same  pens  were  six  others  that  laid  only  from  23  to 
70  eggs  each.  Thirty-seven  laid  over  160  each.  No  hens  were  used 
as  breeders  that  had  not  laid  at  least  160  eggs,  and  all,  as  in  the  pre- 
vious year,  were  bred  to  males  whose  dams  had  yielded  over  200  eggs. 

Males  were  raised  in  1902,  for  the  male  breeding  pens  of  the  next 
year,  from  hens  No.  635  (record,  201  eggs)  and  No.  676  (record,  209 
eggs).  The  eggs  from  both  of  these  hens  were  very  large  and  dark 
brown.  These  hens  were  mated  to  sons  of  No.  303  and  No.  318,  before 
mentioned.  Males  for  the  pullet  breeding  pens  of  the  next  year  were 
bred  from  other  matings  of  hens  that  had  produced  200  eggs  with 
males  whose  dams  had  3rielded  over  200  eggs. 

In  the  year  1901-2  the  registered  stock  had  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  there  was  on\y  room  to  house  53  pullets  for  testing.  They 
were  the  first  pullets  tested  that  were  sired  by  males  bred  from  200- 
egg-producing  hens,  and  show  the  first  results  of  the  breeding  prac- 
ticed. They  had  been  laying  quite  heavily  out  on  their  summer  range 
during  September  and  October,  although  they  were  not  hatched  until 
April  and  May.  The  53  birds  laid  7,952  eggs  in  the  3rear  beginning 
November  1,  1901 — a  little  better  than  150  eggs  each.  Seven  of  the 

«Only  hens  laying  large  dark  brown  eggs  have  been  used  in  these  breeding 
experiments. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  13 

53  showed  records  of  from  201  to  240  eggs  in  the  year,  and  23  of  the 
53  laid  over  160  eggs  each. 

During  the  breeding  season  of  1903  hens  No.  1001  (record,  213  eggs), 
No.  1003  (240  eggs),  No.  1005  (222  eggs),  and  No.  1140  (211  eggs) 
were  bred  to  male  birds  raised  the  year  before  whose  dams  had  yielded 
over  220  eggs  each,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  males  for  the  breed- 
ing pens  of  1904. 

All  pullets  raised  that  year  (1902)  were,  as  in  the  preceding  three 
years,  the  progeny  of  hens  that  had  laid  over  160  eggs  in  a  }rear,  and 
they  had  this  advantage  over  their  predecessors— that  their  dams 
and  maternal  grandams  were  sired  by  males  whose  dams  had  yielded 
:><  x  i  eggs  or  over. 

That  year  (1902-3)  160  pullets  were  tested  in  the  trap  nests.  They 
laid  21,202  eggs,  an  average  of  132  each.  Forty-four  laid  over  160 
eggs  each,  8  laid  200  or  over,  viz,  200,  205,  210,  21T,  220,  221,  222, 
and  225  eggs  each.  An  explanation  for  the  lower  average  yield  than 
that  of  the  last  preceding  year  is  readily  found.  The  pullets  were 
hatched  in  April  and  May,  and,  thinking  to  have  them  in  readiness 
for  laying  early  in  November,  they  were  fed  more  beef  scrap  than 
usual  during  the  growing  season  while  they  were  out  on  the  range. 
This  so  hastened  their  development  that  they  began  laying  in  August, 
and  they  were  nearly  all  laying  heavily  during  September,  October, 
and  November.  They  were  splendid  birds,  but  almost  every  one  of 
them  completely  molted  in  December,  and  very  few  eggs  were  had 
from  them  for  more  than  two  months;  most  of  the  eggs  secured  from 
them  were  laid  after  the  middle  of  January.  Had  they  commenced 
laying  in  October  and  continued  for  a  year,  molting  would  probably 
have  been  avoided  and  the  showing  would  have  been  much  better. 

The  breeding  season  of  1904  opened  with  170  4-year-old  hens  that 
had  laid  above  160  eggs  each  the  year  before,  80  pullets  and  hens 
whose  dams  had  laid  over  200  eggs  per  year,  and  28  hens  that  had 
themselves  laid  over  200  eggs  per  year.  These  birds  were  in  24  dif- 
ferent pens,  and  they  were  bred  to  selected  cockerels  whose  dams  had 
yielded  above  200  large  brown  eggs  per  year. 

Among  the  pullets  tested  during  the  preceding  year  (1903)  were 
found  the  following:  No.  263a  yielded  220  eggs;  No.  225a,  220  eggs; 
No.  222a,  221  eggs;  No.  224a,  222  eggs,  and  No.  205a,  225  eggs. 
These  birds  were  bred  during  1904  to  cockerels  raised  in  1903  from 
heavy-producing  dams  whose  other  sons  were  never  used  in  these 
breeding  experiments.  The  mating  of  these  5  pairs  of  birds  was  to 
secure  cockerels  for  the  next  year's  breeding. 

At  the  usual  time  (November  1,  1903)  for  the  commencement  of  the 
yearly  test  of  1903-4,  300  good  pullets  were  laying  well  out  on  the 
range.  The  construction  of  the  building  to  be  used  for  their  quarters 


14  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

was  interfered  with  by  a  question  of  labor,  and  they  remained  out 
in  their  .small  summer  homes  during  a  wet,  cold  fall  and  early  winter 
until  December  6,  1903,  when  they  were  moved  in.  This  delay  and 
exposure  of  more  than  a  month  cut  into  the  year's  work  heavily,  and 
the  average  production  of  the  300  birds  was  reduced  to  131  eggs  each 
during  a  little  less  than  eleven  months.  Eight  birds  yielded  above 
200  eggs  each  before  the  close  of  October,  1904. 

The  breeding  females  used  in  the  season  of  1905  were  tested  hens 
that  laid  from  160  to  251  eggs  in  a  year;  and  150  pullets  and  hens 
whose  dams  produced  200  eggs  or  over  per  year.  All  males  used  in 
breeding  since  1901  had  dams  that  had  laid  200  eggs  or  more  in  a  year. 

In  1904—5,  400  pullets  from  hens  that  had  laid  above  160  eggs  a  year, 
and  whose  sires,  grandsires,  and  great  grandsires  were  descended  from 
hens  that  yielded  above  200  eggs  per  year,  wero  tested  by  the  trap 
nests  for  additional  breeding  stock.  All  of  the  dams  of  these  pullets 
had  sires  and  grandsires  that  had  200-egg-producing  dams.  The  aver- 
age egg  yield  of  these  birds  for  the  twelve  months  beginning  Novem- 
ber 1,  1904,  was  147.  Among  them  were  54  hens  that  laid  over  200 
eggs  and  217  hens  that  laid  over  160  eggs.  The  highest  yield  by  any 
bird  in  1904-5  was  239  eggs. 

The  stock  with  which  this  investigation  began  was  well  bred,  as 
flocks  generally  go.  The  hens  were  averaging  about  120  good  brown 
eggs  a  year,  and  had  been  doing  so  for  several  years.  In  the  year 
1901-2,  50  selected  birds  averaged  150  eggs.  In  the  two  years  1902-3 
and  1903-4,  with  the  great  setbacks  caused  as  above  indicated,  which 
was  no  fault  of  the  stock,  the  average  was  132  eggs.  The  average 
from  the  400  pullets  in  the  testing  pens  in  1904-5  was  147  eggs.  These 
were  not  selected  birds,  but  were  a  fair  average  of  all  pullets  raised 
that  year.  The  stock  was  strong  and  vigorous  and  but  few  chickens 
that  hatched  were  lost.  The  hardihood  and  vigor  of  the  stock  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  many  cockerels  have  been  sold  to  farmers  and  poultry- 
men  during  the  past  few  years  and  many  have  ordered  again,  with  the 
frequent  comment  that  their  pullets  are  laying  earlier  in  the  season 
and  giving  better  eggs  than  they  have  ever  done  before. 

As  the  housing,  treatment,  and  food  have  been  as  nearly  alike  as 
possible,  there  seems  to  be  reason  for  assuming  that  the  increased  flock 
yields  are  the  results  of  the  breeding  practiced. 

It  may  be  contended  that  sufficient  time  has  not  yet  elapsed  since 
the  beginning  of  these  breeding  tests  to  warrant  the  claim  that  increased 
productiveness  has  been  established,  but  the  outlook  is  certainly  very 
encouraging. 

OTHER   METHODS   OF   SELECTING    BREEDING    STOCK. 

There  are  two  or  three  much-advertised  methods  of  judging  a  hen's 
productiveness  from  certain  signs  and  marks,  the  secret  of  which  will 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT   STATION.  15 

be  disclosed  by  the  inventor  for  a  consideration.  The  Maine  Station 
has  not  invested  in  nor  investigated  any  of  these  methods.  There 
may  be  ways  to  prophesy  accurately  what  a  hen  will  do  in  the  way  of 
egg  production,  but  they  have  not  come  to  the  writer's  attention. 

EARLY    LAYING    A    VALUABLE    INDICATION. 

The  only  absolutely  sure  way  of  making  selection  for  breeding 
stock  is  by  aid  of  the  data  obtained  by  the  use  of  trap  nests.  Only 
investigators  and  an  occasional  poultryman,  however,  can  afford  the 
equipment  and  the  expense  involved  in  operating  trap  nests,  but  every 
poultryman  can,  by  closely  observing  his  young  stock  during  the 
autumn,  select  the  pullets  that  are  commencing  or  preparing  to  lay, 
f  nd  secure  for  the  next  season's  breeding  a  pen  of  birds  that  have- 
the  function  of  egg  production  so  strongty  developed  that  they  give 
evidence  of  it  by  its  early  exercise. 

As  evidence  of  the  value  of  early-laying  pullets  for  breeders,  atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  work  performed  by  29  April -hatched  pullets  that 
were  selected  from  among  their  sisters  out  on  the  range  in  August  and 
September,  when  they  showed  that  they  were  laying  or  about  to  begin 
laying.  They  were  not  selected  because  of  form  or  type  as  indicating 
egg  production,  but  they  were  either  just  picked  up  as  they  were 
found  on  the  nests  or  taken  because  their  combs  were  red  or  because 
they  tagged  the  attendant  around  and  prated  in  the  everyday  hen  lan- 
guage about  the  work  they  were  soon  going  to  do.  They  were  carried 
to  the  laying  house,  marked  with  bands,  and  given  access  to  trap  nests. 

Four  of  these  hens  died  within  the  year.  The  smallest  layer  of  the 
remaining  25  laid  137  eggs  the  first  laying  }rear;  18  laid  more  than  160 
eggs;  and  8  laid  over  200  eggs,  and  the  average  of  the  flock  for  the 
twelve  months  ending  August  30,  1905,  was  180  eggs.  This  average 
was  much  higher  than  that  of  all  the  pullets  carried  that  3Tear,  and  the 
flock  contained  no  poor  la}Ters,  but  a  phenomenal  number  of  high  lay- 
ers. The  high  average  of  the  flock  and  the  large  proportion  of  good 
layers  point  out  the  advantages  of  this  method  of  selection  when  the 
use  of  trap  nests,  or  other  equally  reliable  methods  of  selection,  is  not 
practicable. 

Early  maturity  in  pullets  is  general^  accompanied  by  physical 
vigor,  and,  when  the  function  of  such  birds  is  to  produce  eggs  and 
they  give  evidence  of  it,  they  are  certainly  the  best  of  their  race  to 
breed  winter  egg  producers  from,  if  we  accept  past  experiences  as  a 
guide. 

The  records  of  a  full  year's  laying  in  trap  nests  would  be  better,  as 
that  would  enable  the  rejection  of  all  poor  workers.  As  the  birds 
would  not  be  used  for  breeding  purposes  until  the  year  following, 
they  would  be  more  mature,  and  the  chicks  would  be  larger  when 
hatched  and  would  develop  into  larger  birds  at  maturity  than  they 
4906— No.  90—06 3 


16  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

would  if  their  dams  were  doing  their  first  year's  laying.  The  differ- 
ences in  size  from  these  causes  have  been  very  noticeable  in  our 
work. 

Poultrymen  are  generally  desirous  of  securing  as  many  well-bred 
pullets  as  possible,  and  so  use  1-year-old  hens  as  breeders  in  addition 
to  their  2-year-olds.  The  work  done  by  pullets  from  September  to 
February  or  March  is  a  pretty  good  indication  of  their  usefulness, 
and  their  eggs  are  available  for  breeding  during  the  pullet  year. 
While  the  chickens  from  such  eggs  are  not  generally  so  large  at 
maturity  as  those  from  older  hens,  they  do  not  appear  to  lack  con- 
stitution or  vigor,  and  there  is  no  apparent  reason  why  they  are  not 
desirable  for  breeding  purposes. 

POULTRY  MANAGEMENT. 

Many  }7ears'  practical  experience  in  raising  and  keeping  poultry  and 
investigations  in  poultry  breeding  at  the  Maine  Experiment  Station 
have  resulted  in  the  accumulation  of  a  considerable  fund  of  informa- 
tion on  poultry  management.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  following 
pages  to  outline  this  experience  for  the  benefit  of  poultry  keepers  and 
thereby  to  help  them  to  discriminate  between  some  of  the  wrong  theo- 
ries which  have  underlain  much  of  the  common  practice  of  the  past 
and  the  better  theories  which  underlie  other  and  newer  methods  that 
are  now  yielding  more  satisfactory  results.  It  may  be  that  these 
methods  are  no  better  than  those  practiced  by  others,  but  the  attempt 
is  made  to  state  concisely  the  methods  which  have  been  or  are  now 
being  successfully  employed  at  the  station. 

RAISING  CHICKENS  BY  NATURAL  PROCESSES. 

While  even  the  small  grower  of  chickens  is  earnestly  urged  to  use 
an  incubator  for  hatching,  circumstances  sometimes  make  it  necessary 
to  hatch  and  raise  chickens  by  aid  of  the  mother  hen.  To  persons  so 
situated  an  outline  of  the  method  practiced  at  the  station  before  incu- 
bators had  reached  their  present  development  may  be  helpful.  An 
unused  tie-up  in  a  barn  was  taken  for  the  incubating  room  and  a  plat- 
form was  made  along  the  inner  side.  The  platform  was  3  feet  above 
the  floor  and  was  2£  feet  wide  and  50  feet  long.  It  was  divided  into 
fifty  little  stalls  or  nests,  each  1  foot  wide,  2  feet  long,  and  1  foot 
high.  This  left  a  6-inch  walk  along  the  front  of  the  nests  for  the  hens 
to  light  on  when  flying  up  from  the  floor.  Fach  nest  had  a  door  made 
of  laths  at  the  front,  so  as  to  give  ventilation.  The  door  was  hinged 
at  the  bottom  and  turned  outward.  Across  the  center  of  each  nest  a 
low  partition  was  placed,  so  that  the  nesting  material  would  be  kept 
in  the  back  end — the  nest  proper.  For  early  spring  work  paper  was 
put  in  the  bottom  of  the  nest,  then  an  inch  or  two  of  dry  earth,  and 
on  that  the  nest,  made  of  soft  hay. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  17 

Whenever  half  a  dozen  hens  became  broody  they  were  taken  in 
from  the  henhouse  and  put  on  the  nests,  each  nest  having  a  dummy 
egg  in  it;  the  covers  were  then  shut  up,  and  nearh*  every  hen  seemed 
contented.  In  a  day  or  two  13  eggs  were  placed  under  each  hen. 
Every  morning  the  hens  were  liberated  as  soon  as  it  was  light,  when 
the3r  would  come  down  of  their  own  accord  and  burrow  in  the  dry 
dust  on  the  floor,  eat,  drink,  and  exercise,  and  in  twelve  or  fifteen 
minutes  they  would  nearly  all  go  onto  the  nests  voluntarily.  In  the 
afternoons  one  would  occasionally  be  found  off  the  eggs  looking  out 
through  the  slatted  door.  If  she  persisted  in  coming  off  she  was 
exchanged  for  a  better  sitter.  The  double  nest  is  necessary,  other- 
wise the  discontented  hen  would  have  no  room  to  stand  up,  except  on 
her  nest  full  of  eggs,  and  she  would  very  likely  ruin  them.  There 
was  no  danger  of  this  with  the  double  nest,  as  she  would  step  off  the 
nest,  go  to  the  door  and  try  to  get  out. 

The  advantages  of  a  closed  room  in  which  to  confine  the  sitters  are 
many,  as  the  hens  are  easily  controlled  and  do  not  need  watching  as 
they  do  when  selecting  nests  for  themselves,  or  when  sitting  in  the 
same  room  with  laying  hens.  A  room  12  feet  square  could  be 
arranged  so  as  easily  to  accommodate  50  sitters. 

The  most  satisfactor}'  arrangement  used  at  the  Maine  Station  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  hen  with  her  brood  of  young  chicks  con- 
sisted of  a  closed  coop  about  30  inches  square,  with  a  hinged  roof  and 
a  movable  floor  in  two  parts,  which  would  be  lifted  out  each  day  for 
cleaning.  This  little  coop  had  a  wire-covered  yard  attached  to  it  on 
the  south  side.  The  yard  was  4  by  5  feet  in  size  and  1£  feet  high. 
Its  frame  was  of  1-inch  by  3-inch  strips  and  was  fastened  securely  to 
the  coop. 

The  wire  on  the  sides  was  of  1-inch  mesh,  but  on  top  2-inch  mesh 
was  sufficient.  Such  a  coop  is  easily  kept  clean,  and  the  coop  and 
yard  can  be  set  over  onto  clean  grass  by  one  person. 

The  small  run  will  be  sufficient  for  the  first  few  weeks,  but  soon 
the  chicks  need  greater  range,  and  then  the  fence  at  the  farther  end 
of  the  run  can  be  lifted  up  3  or  4  inches  and  they  can  pass  in  and  out 
at  will,  while  the  mother  will  be  secure  at  home  and  they  will  know 
where  to  find  her  when  they  get  cold  or  damp  or  need  brooding. 
Such  a  coop  accommodates  15  to  20  chicks  until  they  no  longer  require 
brooding,  after  which  several  flocks  should  be  combined  in  one  and 
put  in  a  portable  house  on  a  grassy  range. 

Whenever  the  hen  is  allowed  to  hatch  or  to  mother  chicks,  much 
care  must  be  exercised  to  prevent  lice  from  getting  a  foothold  and 
ruining  the  birds.  The  free  and  frequent  use  of  fresh  insect  powder 
upon  the  hen,  working  it  through  the  feathers  to  the  skin,  is  one  of 
the  best  methods  for  destroying  the  pests.  Grease  or  oil  are  effective 
when  applied  to  the  heads  and  under  the  wings  of  young  chicks,  but 


18  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

care  must  he  taken  not  to  get  too  much  on  them,  especially  during 
damp  weather.  The  feeding  of  chicks  raised  in  coops  with  their 
mothers  does  not  vary  much  from  the  feeding  of  those  raised  in 
brooders  as  described  on  page  20. 

RAISING  CHICKENS  BY  ARTIFICIAL  PROCESSES. 

Incubators  have  been  so  much  improved  that  there  are  several 
kinds  on  the  market  that  will  hatch  as  many  chicks  from  a  given  lot 
of  eggs  as  can  be  done  by  selected  broody  hens.  They  require  little 
care,  maintain  an  even  temperature,  and  are  easily  adjusted  to  meet 
the  increase  in  temperature  arising  from  the  developments  going  on 
in  the  eggs.  In  some  machines  the  moisture  supply  is  automatic  and 
adapted  to  the  requirements;  in  others  it  has  to  be  supplied,  and  skill 
is  necessary  in  determining  the  quantity  needed.  The  economy  of  the 
incubator  is  very  great.  A  360-egg  machine  will  do  the  work  of 
nearly  30  broody  hens,  and  can  be  kept  at  work  continually  if  desired. 

THE   INCUBATOR. 

There  are  many  makes  of  incubators  on  the  market,  most  of  which 
will  give  fairly  satisfactory  results.  The  Maine  Station  has  not  tested 
many  makes  of  incubators  and  very  likely  some  of  the  makes  not 
tested  would  prove  as  satisfactory  as  the  make  used.  Where  many 
machines  are  used  the  hand  turning  of  the  eggs  absorbs  considerable 
time.  Several  turning  devices  have  been  used  and  equally  good 
hatches  have  been  obtained  with  them  as  when  the  eggs  have  been 
turned  by  hand.  Machines  that  have  artificial  turning  shelves  will 
not  hold  quite  as  many  eggs  as  when  flat  shelves  are  used,  but  the 
saving  of  time  compensates  for  this. 

Whatever  make  of  incubator  is  used,  pains  should  be  taken  to 
become  thorough!}7  acquainted  with  the  machine  before  the  eggs  are 
put  into  it.  It  would  be  desirable  for  a  person  not  familiar  with  the 
use  of  an  incubator  to  run  the  machine  empty  for  several  days  before 
filling  it.  After  the  eggs  are  put  in  changes  and  adjustments  should 
be  made  with  the  greatest  care  for  fear  of  extreme  results.  By  the 
use  of  an  incubator  it  is  possible  to  determine  exactly  the  time  when 
the  chickens  shall  be  hatched.  With  the  strain  of  Barred  Plymouth 
Rocks  bred  by  the  Maine  Station  it  was  formerly  necessary  to  hatch 
the  chickens  in  March  in  order  to  have  them  read}7  for  November 
laying.  By  breeding  from  the  best  layers  and  hence  the  earliest 
developed  birds,  and  by  better  methods  of  feeding  and  treatment,  it  is 
now  possible  to  delay  the  hatching  until  April  and  the  first  of  May 
and  have  the  pullets  in  good  laying  condition  the  last  of  October  and 
early  in  November.  Chickens  hatched  in  March  under  the  present 
method  of  breeding  and  feeding  would  begin  laying  hi  August. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  19 

THE    INCUBATOR    ROOM. 

It  is  important  that  the  incubator  room  be  so  situated  that  it  can  be 
kept  at  a  fairly  constant  temperature.  On  this  account  an  underground 
room  is  usually  selected.  For  many  years  the  well-lighted  cellar  under 
the  wing  of  the  farmhouse  was  used  by  the  Maine  Station.  A  cold  or 
damp  cellar  would,  however,  be  poorly  adapted  for  incubators.  Ven- 
tilation is  important,  and  where  several  incubators  are  in  use  artificial 
ventilation  must  be  provided,  in  order  that  the  machines  may  be  fur- 
nished with  clean,  fresh  air  at  all  times. 

In  1905  the  Maine  Station  erected  an  incubator  house  (pi.  1,  fig.  1) 
which  practically*  consists  of  a  well-made,  light,  airy  cellar  with  a 
house  for  the  poultryman  above  it.  The  incubator  room,  which 
occupies  the  entire  cellar,  is  30  feet  square.  The  room  is  7  feet  high 
in  the  clear,  5  feet  of  which  is  below  the  level  of  the  outside  ground. 
It  is  lighted  by  six  3-light  windows  carrying  glass  10  inches  by  16 
inches.  The  cement  walls  are  finished  smooth  and  the  cement  floor  is 
slightly  inclined  toward  the  southeast  corner  where  the  intake  of  the 
drain  is  located.  This  enables  the  free  use  of  water  from  hose  in 
cleaning  the  room  preparatory  to  starting  the  incubators.  Two 
chimneys  extend  to  the  basement  floor  and  contain  ventilating  flues 
that  have  no  opening  into  the  rooms  above.  Entrance  to  the  room  is 
through  a  covered  outside  cellar  stairway  leading  into  a  shed  at  the 
rear  of  the  building.  The  room  now  contains  eighteen  360-egg 
machines,  and  by  a  little  crowding  would  hold  21. 

BROODER   HOUSES. 

The  poultry  plant  erected  by  the  Maine  Station  in  1897  included  a 
permanent  brooder  house.  The  house  was  14  feet  wide  by  60  feet 
long.  Its  front  wall  was  4  feet  10  inches  high  from  the  bottom  of  the 
sill  to  the  top  of  the  plate,  and  the  back  was  7  feet  high.  The  ridge 
was  4  feet  from  the  back  side  and  1  foot  6  inches  higher  than  the  back 
plate.  This  gave  the  short  part  of  the  roof  back  of  the  ridge  and  the 
long  part  to  the  front  of  it.  The  frame  of  the  building  was  of  2  by 
4's;  it  was  boarded  on  the  outside  with  hemlock  boards,  covered  with 
paper,  and  shingled  all  over,  and  the  building  was  ceiled  on  the  inside 
with  matched  pine.  This  gave  a  4-inch  dead-airspace  in  the  walls  and 
roof.  The  house  also  had  a  tight  double  floor  with  paper  between. 
The  front  wall  was  3  feet  8  inches  high  inside  and  the  back  wall  5  feet 
9  inches  from  floor  to  ceiling.  There  was  a  3£-foot  door  in  each  end; 
there  were  ten  windows  in  the  front  wall,  equal  distances  apart  and  8 
inches  from  the  floor,  and  five  windows  in  the  back  wall  close  up  to 
the  plate.  The  windows  had  6  panes  each  of  10  by  12  inch  glass,  and 
the  sash  were  in  two  parts  so  as  to  slide  up  and  down  and  admit  fresh 
air  and  to  keep  the  house  cool  in  warm  weather.  The  windows  were 


20  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

all  double.  There  were  ten  small  doors,  each  10  by  12  inches,  placed 
close  to  the  floor  along  the  front  wall,  through  which  chickens  could 
pass  in  and  out;  these  doors  were  also  double.  Two  galvanized  iron 
ventilators  at  the  top  extended  from  the  inside  of  the  room  up  through 
the  ridge  and  furnished  sufficient  ventilation  during  cold  weather. 
The  ventilators  were  regulated  by  means  of  a  shut  off  at  the  ceiling. 

The  house  was  divided  into  ten  breeding  pens,  each  6  feet  by  10  feet 
8  inches.  The  partitions  between  the  pens  consisted  of  an  8-inch 
board  at  the  bottom  with  3  feet  of  1-inch-mesh  wire  above.  A  walk 
2£  feet  wide  extended  along  the  back  of  the  building.  The  doors 
which  led  from  the  walk  to  the  pens  were  made  to  swing  both  ways 
and  were  covered  with  wire.  A  brooder  was  placed  in  each  pen  with 
a  lamp  door  opening  into  the  walk.  Each  of  these  pens  accommo- 
dated about  60  chicks  in  winter,  or  75  in  spring  when  they  could 
get  out  into  the  yards.  The  building,  being  low  posted,  was  kept 
warm  enough  in  winter  by  the  ten  brooder  stoves,  and  the  tempera- 
ture under  the  hovers  was  usually  found  in  the  morning  about  the 
same  as  it  was  left  the  night  before. 

This  house  proved  to  be  thoroughly  satisfactory,  but  was  burned  in 
the  spring  of  1897  and  has  not  been  replaced.  A  permanent  brooder 
house  would  be  indispensable  for  the  raising  of  winter  chickens,  and 
a  house  piped  for  hot  water  would  have  some  advantages  over  the  one 
here  described.  The  advantages  are  especially  great  when  raising 
chickens  if  April  or  May  prove  to  be  cold  or  wet,  for  then  the  small 
houses  are  apt  to  be  cold  outside  of  the  brooders.  In  ordinary  seasons, 
even  in  Maine,  little  or  no  difficult}'  is  experienced  in  raising  chicks 
hatched  in  April  and  May  in  the  small  houses.  The  expenditure 
would  be  greater  for  the  piped  house,  for  the  reason  that  colony  houses 
should  be  provided  in  which  the  chickens  may  be  sheltered  after  they 
leave  the  brooder  house. 

Since  the  burning  of  the  house  just  described,  the  Maine  Station  has 
used  small  portable  brooder  houses  (pi.  2).  The  small  brooder  houses 
built  on  runners  are  readily  moved  about,  and  for  the  work  with 
spring-hatched  chickens  are  preferred  to  the  large  permanent  brooder 
house.  Several  styles  and  sizes  have  been  used,  but  the  following 
meets  the  needs  of  the  station  better  than  any  other  that  has  been 
tried.  The  houses  are  built  on  two  16-foot  pieces  of  4  by  6  inch  tim- 
ber, which  serve  as  runners.  The  ends  of  the  timbers,  which  project 
beyond  the  house,  are  chamfered  on  the  underside  to  facilitate 
moving.  The  houses  are  12  feet  long;  some  of  them  are  6  feet  and 
others  7  feet  wide;  7  feet  is  the  better  width.  They  are  6  feet  high 
in  front  and  -i  feet  high  at  the  back.  The  frame  is  of  2  by  3  inch 
lumber;  the  floor  is  double  boarded,  and  the  building  is  boarded, 
papered,  and  shingled  all  over.  In  some  localities  roofing  paper  of 
good  quality  would  be  preferable  to  shingles  for  the  outside  covering 


Buu.  No.  90,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  1, 


FIG.  1 .— INCUBATOR  HOUSE. 


FIG.  2.— PIONEER  ROOSTING-CLOSET  HOUSE. 


But.  No.  90.  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  2. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  Ul 

of  these  houses.  A  half  dozen  built  by  the  Maine  Station  in  1905 
were  covered  with  such  roofing  and  are  very  satisfactory.  This  kind 
of  covering  for  the  wall  is  not  so  likely  to  be  injured  in  moving  as 
shingles.  A  door  2  feet  wide  is  in  the  center  of  the  front  and  a  6-light 
window,  hinged  at  the  top,  is  on  each  side  of  it.  Two  brooders  are 
placed  in  each  of  these  houses  and  50  to  60  chicks  are  put  with  each 
brooder.  A  low  partition  separates  the  flocks  while  they  are  young, 
but  later  it  has  to  be  made  higher.  The  houses  are  large  enough  so 
that  a  person  can  go  in  and  do  the  work  comfortably,  and  each  one 
accommodates  100  chicks  until  the  cockerels  are  large  enough  to  be 
removed. 

Indoor  brooders  are  used  at  the  Maine  Station  and  are  much  pre- 
ferred to  any  outside  brooders  the  station  has  tried.  The  style  used 
has  the  cover  and  part  of  one  side  arranged  to  turn  down,  making  an 
inclining  run  the  whole  width  of  the  brooder,  up  and  down  which  the 
little  chicks  can  go  without  crowding. 

Most  kinds  of  brooders  as  now  made  keep  the  chicks  comfortable  at 
desired  temperatures  and  have  good  means  of  ventilation.  The  great 
difficulty  lies  in  the  lamps  used.  The  lamp  apartments  are  small  and 
the  tendency  is  for  the  oil  to  become  warm  and  form  gases  which 
cause  the  flame  to  stream  up  and  make  trouble.  Most  brooder  lamps 
have  water  pans  between  the  oil  tank  and  the  burner  which  tend  to 
keep  the  oil  cool,  but  even  with  this  precaution  the  Maine  Station  has 
had  two  fires,  one  of  which  was  very  serious.  The  brooders  now  in 
use  have  no  water  pans  but  are  so  arranged  that  currents  of  cool  air 
pass  constantly  over  the  oil  tank  and  keep  its  contents  cool.  These 
lamps,  or  stoves,  have  been  used  for  four  years — last  year  more  than 
20  of  them — and  they  are  apparently  safe,  as  the  oil  in  them  has  never 
become  warm. 

TREATMENT   OF   YOUNG  CHICKS. 

When  the  chicks  are  30  to  40  hours  old  they  are  carried  in  warm 
covered  baskets  to  the  brooders,  and  50  or  60  are  put  under  each 
hover,  where  the  temperature  is  between  95°  and  100°  F.  The  tem- 
perature is  not  allowed  to  fall  below  95°  F.  during  the  first  week,  or 
90°  F.  during  the  second  week;  then  it  is  gradually  reduced  according 
to  the  temperature  outside,  care  being  taken  not  to  drive  the  chicks 
out  by  too  much  heat,  or  cause  them  to  crowd  together  under  the 
hover  because  the}'  are  cold.  They  should  flatten  out  separately  when 
young,  and  a  little  later  lie  with  their  heads  just  at  the  edge  of  the 
fringe  of  the  hover.  They  should  never  be  allowed  to  huddle  outside 
of  the  brooder.  They  huddle  because  they  are  cold,  and  they  should 
be  put  under  the  hover  to  get  warm,  until  they  learn  to  go  there  of  their 
own  accord.  Neither  should  they  be  allowed  to  stay  under  the  hover 
too  much,  but  in  the  daytime  should  be  forced  out  into  the  cooler  air 


22  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

where  they  gain  strength.  They  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  get  more 
than  a  foot  from  the  hover  during  the  first  two  days;  then  a  little 
farther  away  each  day,  and  down  onto  the  house  floor  about  the  fourth 
or  fifth  day-,  if  the  weather  is  not  too  cold.  They  must  not  get  cold 
enough  to  huddle  or  cry,  but  must  come  out  from  under  the  hover 
frequently. 

The  floor  of  the  brooder  is  cleaned  every  day  and  kept  well  sprinkled 
with  sharp,  fine  crushed  rock,  known  in  the  market  as  "chicken  grit.*' 
The  floor  of  the  house  is  covered  with  clover  leaves  or  with  hay  chaff 
from  the  feeding  floor  in  the  cattle  barns. 

FEEDING   THE    CHICKS. 

Until  recenthr  the  young  chicks  were  fed  bread  made  by  mixing 
3  parts  of  corn  meal,  1  part  wheat  bran,  and  1  part  wheat  middlings 
or  flour  with  skim  milk  or  water,  mixing  it  very  dry  and  salting  as 
usual  for  bread.  It  was  baked  thoroughly,  and  when  well  done,  if  it 
was  not  dry  enough  to  crumble,  it  was  broken  up  and  dried  out  in  the 
oven  and  then  ground  in  a  mortar  or  mill.  The  infertile  eggs  were 
hard  boiled  and  ground,  shell  and  all,  in  a  sausage  mill.  About  1 
part  of  ground  egg  and  -±  parts  of  the  bread  crumbs  were  rubbed 
together  until  the  egg  was  well  divided.  This  bread  made  up  about 
one-half  of  the  food  of  the  chicks  until  they  were  5  or  6  weeks  old. 
Eggs  were  always  used  with  it  for  the  first  one  or  two  weeks,  and  then 
fine-sifted  beef  scrap  was  mixed  with  the  bread. 

The  use  of  bread  has  been  given  up,  not  because  there  is  anything 
better  for  the  young  chicks,  but  because  experiments  with  other 
methods  of  feeding  led  to  the  conclusion  that  equally  good  results 
could  be  obtained  in  other  ways  and  with  less  labor.  The  method  of 
feeding  now  used  for  chicks  is  as  follows:  Infertile  eggs  are  boiled  for 
half  an  hour  and  then  ground  in  an  ordinary  meat  chopper,  shells 
included,  and  mixed  with  about  six  times  their  bulk  of  rolled  oats  by 
rubbing  both  together,  enough  to  break  the  egg  into  small  pieces. 
This  mixture  is  the  feed  for  two  or  three  days,  until  the  chicks  have 
learned  how  to  eat.  It  is  fed  sparingly,  in  the  litter  and  sand  on  the 
brooder  floor.  When  the  chicks  are  about  4  da}*s  old  they  are  fed  a 
mixture  of  hard,  fine-broken  grains — i.  e.,  cracked  corn,  wheat,  millet, 
and  pin-head  oats — as  soon  as  the  birds  can  see  to  eat  in  the  mornings. 
This  is  fed  in  the  litter,  being  careful  to  limit  the  quantity  so  they 
will  be  hungry  at  10  o'clock.  Several  of  the  prepared  diy  chick  feeds 
have  been  used  and  found  satisfactory  when  the}7  are  made  of  good 
clean  grains  and  do  not  contain  grit.  The  grit  and  charcoal  can  be 
supplied  at  less  cost,  and  must  be  freely  provided. 

At  10  o'clock  the  rolled  oats  and  egg  mixture  is  fed  in  tin  plates 
with  low  rims.  After  the  chicks  have  had  the  feed  before  them  five 
minutes  the  dishes  are  removed,  and  they  have  nothing  to  lunch  on 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  28 

except  a  little  of  the  tine  broken  grain,  which  they  scratch  for.  At 
1  o'clock  the  hard  grains  are  again  fed  as  in  the  morning,  and  at  4.  HO 
to  5  o'clock  the  chicks  are  fed  on  the  rolled  oats  and  egg  mixture, 
being  given  all  they  will  eat  until  dark. 

When  the  chickens  are  about  3  weeks  old  the  rolled  oats  and  egg 
mixture  is  gradually  displaced  by  a  mixture  made  up  of  2  parts,  l>y 
weight,  of  good  clean  bran,  2  parts  corn  meal,  1  part  middlings  or 
"red  dog"  flour,  1  part  linseed  meal,  and  1  part  fine  beef  scrap.  This 
mixture  is  slight!}7  moistened,  but  not  enough  to  make  it  stick}',  as  it 
should  crumble  when  a  handful  is  squeezed  and  then  released.  By 
this  time  the  birds  are  developed  far  enough  to  dispense  with  the  tin 
plates,  which  are  replaced  by  light  flat  troughs  with  low  sides. 

The  hard,  broken  grains  may  be  safely  used  all  the  wa}r  along  and 
the  fine  meals  left  out,  but  the  chicks  do  not  grow  so  fast  as  when 
the  mash  is  fed.  There  seems,  however,  to  be  least  danger  from 
looseness  of  the  bowels  when  only  the  dr}'  grains  are  fed.  It  is  very 
essential  that  the  mash  be  dry  enough  to  crumble  in  order  to  avoid 
that  difficulty.  Young  chicks  like  the  moist  mash  better  than  a  diy 
mixture  and  will  eat  more  of  it.  There  is  no  danger  from  freely  using 
the  properly  made  mash  twice  a  day,  and  being  made  up  largely  of 
finely  ground  material  the  young  birds  can  eat  and  digest  more  of  it 
than  when  the  food  is  all  coarse.  This  is  a  very  important  fact  and 
should  be  taken  advantage  of  at  the  time  when  the  young  things  are 
most  susceptible  to  rapid  growth.  But  the  development  must  be 
moderate  during  the  first  few  weeks.  The  digestive  organs  must  b.e 
kept  in  normal  condition  by  the  use  of  some  hard  foods,  and  the  giz- 
zard must  not  be  deprived  of  its  legitimate  work  and  allowed  to  become 
weak  by  disuse. 

Clean  water,  charcoal,  granulated  bone,  oyster  shell,  and  sharp  grit 
are  always  kept  by  them.  Mangolds  are  cut  into  slices,  which  the 
chicks  soon  learn  to  peck.  When  the  grass  begins  to  grow  they  are 
able  to  get  green  food  from  the  yards.  If  the  small  }rards  are  worn 
out  before  they  are  moved  to  the  range,  cut  green  clover  or  rape  is 
fed  to  them. 

FEEDING  CHICKENS  ON  THE  RANGE. 

By  the  middle  of  June  the  chickens  that  were  hatched  in  April 
are  being  fed  on  cracked  corn,  wheat,  and  the  mash.  At  about  that 
time  the  portable  houses  with  their  contents  of  chickens  are  drawn 
from  their  winter  locations  out  to  an  open  hayfield  where  the  crop  has 
been  harvested  and  the  grass  is  short  and  green.  (See  pi.  2.)  If 
not  too  much  worn,  the  same  field  ma}r  be  used  a  second  season  for 
chickens,  but  this  is  not  recommended.  A  new,  clean  piece  of  turf 
land  should  be  used  each  year.  Two  acres  should  be  allowed  for  each 
1,000  chickens. 


24  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

When  the  chickens  are  moved  to  the  range  the  sexes  are  separated. 
The  methods  of  feeding  the  cockerels  and  pullets  differ,  and  there 
has  been  a  gradual  change  in  the  methods  of  feeding.  Each  method 
has  given  good  results.  The  changes  have  been  introduced  to  save 
labor.  After  the  chickens  were  moved  to  the  range  they  were  fed 
in  the  morning  and  evening  with  a  moistened  mixture  of  corn  meal, 
middlings,  and  wheat  bran,  to  which  one-tenth  as  much  beef  scrap 
was  added.  The  other  two  feeds  were  of  wheat  and  cracked  corn. 

In  1904  a  change  was  made  in  the  manner  of  feeding  1,400  female 
chickens  by  omitting  the  moist  mash  and  keeping  in  separate  slatted 
troughs  cracked  corn,  wheat,  beef  scrap,  cracked  bone,  oyster  shell, 
and  grit  where  they  could  help  themselves  whenever  they  desired  to 
do  so.  Grit,  bone,  and  oyster  shell  were  always  supplied.  There 
were  no  regular  hours  for  feeding,  but  care  was  taken  that  the 
troughs  were  never  empty. 

In  1905  another  trough  containing  a  dry  mash  consisting  of  1  part 
wheat  bran,  2  parts  corn  meal,  1  part  middlings,  and  1  part  beef  scrap 
was  used  in  addition  to  those  containing  the  grains.  The  results  were 
satisfactory.  The  labor  of  feeding  was  far  less  than  that  required 
by  any  other  method  tried.  The  birds  did  not  hang  around  the 
troughs  and  overeat,  but  helped  themselves,  a  little  at  a  time,  and 
ranged  off,  hunting  or  playing,  and  coming  back  again  to  the  food 
supply  at  the  troughs  when  so  inclined.  There  was  no  rushing  or 
crowding  about  the  attendant,  as  is  usual  at  feeding  time  where  large 
numbers  are  kept  together.  While  the  birds  liked  the  beef  scrap, 
they  did  not  overeat  of  it.  During  the  range  season,  from  June  to  the 
close  of  October,  the  birds  ate  just  about  1  pound  of  the  scrap  to  10 
pounds  of  the  cracked  corn  and  wheat.  This  is  practically  the  pro- 
portion eaten  when  the  moist  mash  was  used. 


THE    FEEDING   TROUGH. 


The  difficulty  of  keeping  the  feed  clean  and  dry  during  continued 
exposure  is  nearly  overcome  by  using  troughs  with  slatted  sides  and 
broad  detachable  roofs  (figs.  1  and  2).  The  troughs  are  from  6  to  10 


FIG.  1. — Chicken  feeding  trough,  accessible  from  both  sides,  with  cover  on. 

feet  long,  with  the  sides  5  inches  high.     The  lath  slats  are  2  inches 
apart,  and  the  troughs  are  16  inches  high  from  floor  to  roof.     The 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  25 

roofs  project  about  2  inches  at  the  sides  and  effectuall}7  keep  out  the 
rain  except  when  high  winds  prevail. 

The  roof  is  very  easily  removed  by  lifting  one  end  and  sliding  it 
endwise  on  the  opposite  gable  end  on  which  it  rests,  as  shown  in 
figure  2.  The  trough  can  then  be  filled  and  the  roof  drawn  back  into 


FIG.  2. — Chicken  feeding  trough  with  cover  removed. 

place  without  lifting  it.  This  arrangement  is  economical  of  feed, 
keeping  it  in  good  condition  and  avoiding  waste.  When  dry  mash  is 
used  there  may  be  considerable  waste  by  the  finer  parts  being  blown 
away,  and  on  this  account  the  dry  mash  trough  should  be  put  in  a 
sheltered  place  out  of  the  reach  of  wind. 

FEEDING  THE  COCKERELS  FOR  MARKET. 

At  the  Maine  Station  most  of  the  cockerels  are  to  be  used  for  breed- 
ing purposes,  and  they  are  fed  in  flocks  of  about  100  on  the  range  in 
about  the  same  way  as  the  pullets.  The  dry-feed  method  is  now  used 
for  them  as  satisfactorily  as  for  the  pullets. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  cockerels  raised  in  New  England  are 
sent  to  the  market  alive,  without  being  fattened.  Quite  extended 
experiments  at  the  Maine  Station  with  many  birds,  in  different  years, 
indicate  very  clearly  that  keeping  the  cockerels  for  a  few  weeks  with 
special  feeding  will  add  materially  to  the  selling  price.  Not  infre- 
quentl}'  this  will  make  the  difference  between  loss  from  the  low  price 
obtained  for  slow-selling  unfattened  birds  and  the  profit  from  com- 
paratively quick-selling  specially  fed  birds  at  a  much  higher  price. 
The  higher  price  is  due  partly  to  the  increased  weight  and  partly  to 
the  superior  quality  of  the  well-covered  soft-fleshed  chickens.  As 
the  bulletins  containing  the  results  of  these  feeding  experiments  with 
cockerels  are  out  of  print,  the  following  brief  summar}'  of  the  results 
obtained  is  given: 

The  number  of  pounds  of  grain  required  to  produce  1  pound  of  gain 
in  fattening  cockerels  was  ascertained  in  experiments  comparing  the 
effect  of  housing,  the  effect  of  age,  and  the  effect  of  skim  milk.  The 
grain  mixture  used  in  these  series  of  experiments  was  the  same,  con- 
sisting of  100  pounds  of  corn  meal,  100  pounds  of  wheat  middlings,  and 
40  pounds  of  meat  meal.  This  was  fed  as  a  porridge  thick  enough  to 
drop  but  not  to  run  from  a  spoon. 


26  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

The  French  and  English  f atteners  who  make  a  specialty  of  the  busi- 
ness, fattening  thousands  of  chickens  each  year,  confine  the  chickens 
in  small  coops.  Coops  used  at  the  Maine  Experiment  Station  gave  a 
floor  space  of  16  by  23  inches.  They  were  constructed  of  laths  with 
closed-end  partitions  of  boards.  The  floors,  sides,  and  tops  were  of 
laths  placed  three-quarters  of  an  inch  apart.  By  simply  moving  the 
pens  thus  constructed  the  floors  were  kept  clean.  V-shaped  troughs 
with  3-inch  sides  were  placed  in  front  and  about  2  inches  above  the 
level  of  the  floors  of  the  coops.  Cockerels  thus  fed  were  compared 
with  others  kept  in  small  houses  9  by  11  feet  in  size,  with  an  attached 
yard  20  feet  square.  The  yard  was  entirely  free  from  anything  that 
would  serve  as  green  food.  Twenty  birds  were  put  in  each  of  these 
houses. 

As  a  result  of  experiments  with  fattening  286  birds  it  was  found 
that  on  the  average  7.9  pounds  of  grain  were  required  to  produce  1 
pound  of  gain  in  the  case  of  birds  fed  in  the  coops,  and  5.9  pounds  in 
the  case  of  those  fed  in  the  small  houses  and  yards. 

An  experiment  with  150  birds  when  they  were  4  months  old  showed 
that  they  required  4.9  pounds  of  grain  to  produce  1  pound  of  gain, 
while  birds  from  the  same  stock,  when  they  were  6  months  old, 
required  7.4  pounds  of  grain  to  produce  1  pound  of  gain. 

An  experiment  with  68  birds  showed  that  when  the  porridge  was 
wet  with  skim  milk  only  4.3  pounds  of  grain  were  required  to  produce 
1  pound  of  gain,  against  5.3  pounds  when  the  porridge  was  wet  with 
water.  Eight  pounds  of  skim  milk  was  used  with  each  pound  of  grain. 

These  experiments  warrant  the  following  conclusions:  As  great 
gains  are  made  just  as  cheaply  and  more  easily  when  the  chickens  are 
put  into  small  houses  and  yards  as  when  they  are  fed  in  small  lots  in 
lattice  coops  just  large  enough  to  hold  them.  Four  weeks  is  about  the 
limit  of  profitable  feeding,  both  individually  and  in  flocks.  Chickens 
gain  faster  while  young.  Birds  that  are  from  150  to  175  days  old 
have  uniformly  given  comparatively  small  gains.  The  practice  of 
successful  poultrymen  selling  chickens  at  the  earliest  marketable  age 
is  well  founded.  The  spring  chicken  sold  at  Thanksgiving  time  is  an 
expensive  product.  The  experiments  clearly  indicate  that  it  is  profit- 
able to  fatten  chickens  in  cheaply  constructed  sheds  or  in  large  coops 
with  small  runs  for  about  four  weeks  and  then  send  them  to  market 
dressed.  In  quality  the  well-covered,  soft-fleshed  chickens  are  so 
much  superior  to  the  same  birds  not  special \y  prepared  that  the  former 
will  be  sought  for  at  a  higher  price.  The  dairy  farmer  is  particularly 
well  prepared  to  carry  on  this  work,  as  he  has  the  skim  milk  which 
these  experiments  show  to  be  of  so  great  importance  in  obtaining  cheap 
rapid  growth  and  superior  quality  of  flesh. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT   STATION.  27 

HOUSING  THE  HENS. 

When  work  in  poultry  management  was  first  undertaken  at  the 
University  of  Maine  the  hens  were  kept  in  small  colonies  in  accord 
with  what  was  at  that  tiffje  believed  to  be  the  best  practice.  Houses 
10  feet  square  were  erected  with  the  idea  of  accommodating  about  15 
birds  each.  They  were  well  warmed  and  yet  were  apt  to  be  damp  and 
lined  with  white  frost  in  very  cold  weather  when  the  windows  had  to 
be  kept  shut  to  protect  the  birds  from  cold  at  night.  Another  disad- 
vantage of  this  kind  of  house  is  its  small  size.  A  person  can  not  care 
for  hens  in  such  small  pens  without  getting  them  into  a  condition  of 
unrest  for  fear  of  being  cornered  in  such  a  small  room.  The  question 
of  extra  labor  in  caring  for  hens  in  these  small  colonies  scattered  over 
quite  a  large  area  is  an  important  factor  in  a  commercial  plant.  When 
the  Maine  Experiment  Station  began  experiments  in  1897  a  warmed 
house  150  feet  long  by  16  feet  wide  was  erected.  As  before  mentioned, 
this  house  was  burned  the  next  spring,  but  was  replaced. 

THE    WARMED   HOUSE. 

This  house  (designated  as  No.  1  and  illustrated  in  pi.  3),  which  was 
erected  in  1898,  is  16  feet  wide  by  150  feet  long.  It  faces  the  south 
and  conforms  nearly  to  the  land  surface,  the  east  end  being  3  feet  6 
inches  lower  than  the  west  end.  The  sills  are  of  -i  by  6  inch  hemlock, 
placed  flat  upon  a  rough  stone  wall  which  rests  upon  the  ground  sur- 
face and  varies  from  1  to  2  feet  in  height.  The  earth  is  graded  up  to 
within  6  inches  of  the  sills  on  the  outside.  The  floor  timbers  are 
2  by  8  inches,  placed  2  feet  6  inches  apart,  and  rest  on  the  sills.  The 
studs  for  the  back  wall  are  2  by  4  inch  joists,  5  feet  8  inches  long,  and 
rest  on  the  sills.  The  front  studs  are  10  feet  6  inches  long.  All  the 
studs  are  set  3  feet  apart.  Each  10  feet  in  length  of  the  front  of  the 
building  has  one  12-light  window  of  10  by  12  inch  glass.  The  top  of 
this  window  comes  within  1  foot  of  the  plate.  Directl}'  underneath 
these  windows  and  6  inches  above  the  floor  are  other  3-light  windows 
of  10  by  12  inch  glass.  The  building  is  boarded,  papered,  and  shingled 
all  over  the  outside,  both  roof  and  walls.  The  floor  is  of  two  thick- 
nesses of  hemlock  boards.  The  entire  inside  of  the  building  is  papered 
on  the  studs  and  rafters  and  sheathed  with  matched  boards.  The  work 
was  carefully  done  and  good  dead-air  spaces  were  obtained  over  the 
whole  building. 

The  house  is  divided  into  fifteen  10-foot  sections.  The  close  parti- 
tions between^  the  pens  are  2  feet  high  and  are  made  of  2-inch  plank. 
They  form  strong  trusses,  to  which  the  studs  supporting  the  central 
plate  are  strongly  nailed.  This  saves  the  floor  from, sagging  from  the 
weight  of  the  roof  when  it  is  covered  with  snow.  An  elevated  plank 
walk  4  feet  wide  runs  along  inside  the  whole  length  of  the  front  of 


28  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

the  building  and  rests  on  the  cross  partitions  just  mentioned.  The 
walk  is  '2  feet  6  inches  above  the  floor,  thus  allowing-  the  hens  to  p;i>> 
under  it  and  occupy  the  whole  floor  space.  This  part  of  the  floor  is 
lighted  from  the  front  by  the  small  windows  before  mentioned.  Above 
the  close  partition  the  pens  are  separated  from  each  other  and  the 
walk  b}~  wire  netting  of  2-inch  mesh.  Light  wooden-frame  doors, 
covered  with  wire  and  hung  with  double-action  spring  hinges,  are  in 
every  cross  partition,  and  also  in  the  partitions  between  the  elevated 
walk  and  each  pen. 

The  back  ends  of  the  cross  partitions,  4  feet  out  from  the  back  wall, 
are  carried  up  to  the  roof,  so  as  to  protect  the  hens  from  currents  of 
air  wrhile  on  the  roosts.  The  roost  platform  is  along  the  back  wall. 
Four  trap  nests  (described  on  page  36)  are  placed  at  the  back  of  the 
house  at  the  end  of  the  roost  platform  in  each  pen. 

All  the  windows  are  double;  eight  of  the  large  outside  ones  are 
hinged  at  the  top  and  kept  hasped  out  1  foot  at  the  bottom,  except  in 
the  roughest  weather  and  on  cold  winter  nights.  This  furnishes  venti- 
lation without  drafts,  as  the  position  of  the  outside  windows  prevents 
strong  currents  of  air  from  entering. 

Although  this  house  was  thoroughly  built,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  close  the  windows  during  rough  winter  weather  or  water  would 
freeze  quite  hard  inside  the  building.  Closing  the  windows  caused 
dampness  and  frost  on  the  walls,  and  the  straw  litter  absorbed  the 
moisture  and  became  while  yet  clean  disagreeable  to  the  hens.  A  hot- 
water  heater  was  placed  in  a  pit  at  the  lower  end  of  the  building,  and 
one  line  of  2-inch  pipe  was  carried  under  the  roosts  to  the  upper  end 
of  the  building  and  returned  to  the  boiler.  By  use  of  this  heater  the 
building  is  kept  above  the  freezing  point  at  all  times,  and  there  is  not 
much  trouble  from  moisture  except  when  extremely  cold  weather 
necessitates  the  closing  of  the  windows. 

The  birds  in  this  house  have  always  been  in  excellent  health  and 
have  never  shrunk  in  their  egg  yields  from  cold  weather,  except  in 
one  season  when  coal  was  not  procurable  and  the  temperature  ran  low. 

The  ease  with  which  the  hens  are  cared  for,  the  availability  of  the 
entire  floor  space,  and  the  welfare  and  productiveness  of  the  birds  kept 
here  commend  this  building  as  one  of  the  best.  It  was  planned  and 
constructed  so  as  to  obtain  conditions  believed  to  be  necessary  for  the 
welfare  of  the  birds  and  to  economize  the  labor  involved  in  their  care. 
While  a  single- walled  building  would  have  cost  less,  it  would  not  have 
kept  the  hens  warm  or  given  protection  from  the  dampness  which  pre- 
vails in  close  single-walled  houses. 

THE    ROOSTING- CLOSET   HOUSE. 

Five  years  ago  one  of  the  10-foot  square  houses  described  above  was 
taken  for  a  nucleus  and  an  addition  made,  so  that  the  reconstructed 


BUL.  No.  90,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  3. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  29 

house  was  10  feet  wide  and  25  feet  long  (pi.  1,  fig.  2).  The  inside  end 
of  "he  old  house  was  taken  out,  so  that  there  is  one  room  with  a  floor 
space  of  250  square  feet.  The  walls  are  about  5£  feet  high  in  the  clear 
inside  of  the  building.  The  whole  of  the  front  wall  is  not  filled  in, 
but  a  space  3  feet  wide  and  15  feet  long  is  left  just  under  the  plate. 
This  space  had  a  frame  covered  with  white  drilling,  hinged  at  the  top 
o->  the  inside,  so  it  can  be  let  down  and  buttoned  during  driving  storms 
and  winter  nights,  but  hung  up  out  of  the  wa}^  at  all  other  times. 
The  cloth  of  the  outer  curtain  is  oiled  with  hot  linseed  oil.  The  roost 
platform  extends  the  whole  length  of  the  back  of  the  room.  It  is  3 
feet  4  inches  wide  and  3  feet  above  the  floor.  The  back  wall  and  up 
the  roof  for  4  feet  is  lined  and  the  space  filled  and  packed  hard  with 
tine  hay.  The  packing  also  extends  part  way  across  the  ends  of  the 
room. 

Two  roosts  are  used,  but  they  do  not  take  the  whole  length  of  the 
platform,  a  space  of  4  feet  at  one  end  being  reserved  for  a  crate  where 
broody  hens  can  be  confined  until  the  desire  for  sitting  is  overcome. 
The  space,  from  the  front  edge  of  the  platform  up  to  the  roof,  is  covered 
by  frame  curtains  of  drilling,  similar  to  the  one  on  the  front  wall  except 
that  it  is  not  oiled.  They  are  hinged  at  the  top  edge  and  kept  turned 
up  out  of  the  way  during  daytime,  but  from  the  commencement  of 
cold  weather  until  spring  they  are  closed  down  every  night  after  the 
hens  go  to  roost.  The  hens  are  shut  in  this  close  roosting  closet  and 
kept  there  during  the  night,  and  are  released  as  early  in  the  morning 
as  they  can  see  to  scratch  for  the  grain  which  is  sprinkled  in  the  8-inch, 
deep  straw  on  the  floor. 

The  roosting  closet  has  been  closely  observed  and  has  never  been 
damp  or  its  odors  offensive  when  opened  in  the  mornings.  There  was 
very  little  freezing  in  the  closets  in  the  coldest  weather.  The  birds 
seemed  to  enjoy  coming  out  of  the  warm  sleeping  closet  down  into  the 
cold  straw,  which  was  always  dry,  because  the  whole  house  was  open 
to  the  outside  air  and  sun  every  da}'.  There  were  no  shut-off  corners 
of  floor  or  closet  that  were  damp.  This  building  has  been  used  through 
five  winters  with  50  hens  in  it.  The  birds  have  laid  as  well  as  the 
others  in  the  large  warmed  house;  their  combs  have  been  red  and 
their  plumage  bright,  and  they  have  given  every  evidence  of  perfect 
health  and  vigor.  While  they  are  on  the  roosts  they  are  warm.  They 
come  down  to  their  breakfasts  and  spend  the  day  in  the  open  air. 
Such  treatment  gives  vigor  and  snap  to  the  human  being,  and  it  seems 
to  work  equally  well  with  the  hen. 

This  house,  which  was  given  the  name  of  the  "pioneer"  house,  is 
shown  in  plate  1,  figure  2. 

CURTAIN-FRONT   HOUSES. 

The  result  of  the  use  of  the  "pioneer"  house  indicated  that  this 
was  one  of  the  right  systems  of  treatment  and  housing  of  hens,  and  it 


30  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

was  decided  to  build  several  houses  on  the  same  plan  and  join  them 
together  under  one  roof  as  one  house. 

A  curtain-front  house  12  feet  wide  by  150  feet  long,  known  as 
house  No.  2  (pis.  3  and  4),  was  erected  in  1903.  The  back  wall  is 
5  feet  6  inches  high  from  floor  to  top  of  plate  inside,  and  the  front 
wall  is  6  feet  8  inches  high.  The  roof  is  of  unequal  span,  the  ridge 
being  4  feet  in  from  the  front  wall;  and  the  height  of  the  ridge  above 
the  floor  is  9  feet.  The  sills  are  4  by  6  inches  in  size  and  rest  on  a 
rough  stone  wall  laid  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  A  central  sill 
gives  support  to  the  floor,  which  at  times  is  quite  heavily  loaded  with 
sand.  The  floor  timbers  are  2  by  8  inches  in  size  and  are  placed  2 
feet  apart;  the  floor  is  of  two  thicknesses  of  hemlock  boards.  All  the 
rest  of  the  frame  is  of  2  by  4  inch  stuff.  The  building  is  boarded, 
papered,  and  shingled  on  roof  and  walls.  The  rear  wall  and  4  feet  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  rear  roof  are  ceiled  on  the  inside  of  the  studding 
and  plates,  and  the  space  between  inner  and  outer  walls  is  packed  very 
hard  with  dry  sawdust.  In  order  to  make  the  sawdust  packing  con- 
tinuous between  the  wall  and  roof,  the  wall  ceiling  is  carried  up  to 
within  6  inches  of  the  plate;  then  follows  up  inclining  pieces  of  stud- 
ding to  the  rafters,  the  short  pieces  of  studding  being  nailed  to  the 
studs  and  rafters.  By  this  arrangement  there  are  no  slack  places 
around  the  plate  to  admit  cold  air.  The  end  walls  are  packed  in  the 
same  way.  The  house  is  divided  by  close-board  partitions  into  seven 
20-foot  sections;  one  10-foot  section  is  reserved  at  the  lower  end  for 
a  feed-storage  room. 

Each  of  the  20-foot  sections  has  two  12-light  outside  windows 
screwed  onto  the  front,  and  the  space  between  the  windows  (which  is 
8  feet  long)  for  a  distance  of  3  feet  down  from  the  plate  is  covered 
during  rough  winter  storms  and  cold  nights  by  a  light  frame  covered 
with  10-ounce  duck,  oiled,  and  closely  tacked  on.  This  door,  or  curtain, 
is  hinged  at  the  top  and  swings  in  and  up  to  the  roof  when  open. 

In  the  front  of  each  section  is  a  door  2  feet  6  inches  wide.  The 
roost  platform  is  at  the  back  of  each  room  and  extends  the  whole 
20  feet.  The  platform  is  3  feet  6  inches  wide  and  3  feet  above  the 
floor.  The  roosts  are  of  2  by  3  inch  stuff  placed  on  edge  and  are  10 
inches  above  the  platform.  The  back  one  is  11  inches  out  from  the 
wall,  and  the  space  between  the  two  roosts  is  1G  inches,  leaving  15 
inches  between  the  front  roost  and  the  duck  curtain,  which  is  sufficient 
to  prevent  the  curtain  being  soiled  by  the  birds  on  the  roost.  The 
two  curtains  in  front  of  the  roost  are  similar  to  the  one  in  the  front  of 
the  house,  except  that  they  are  not  oiled.  They  are  each  10  feet  long 
by  30  inches  wide,  hinged  at  the  top,  and  open  into  the  room  and  fasten 
up  when  not  in  use.  Great  care  was  exercised  in  constructing  the 
roosting  closets  to  have  them  as  nearly  air-tight  as  .possible,  except 
as  air  might  come  in  through  the  cloth  curtain. 


BUL.  No.  90,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  4. 


o 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT   STATION.  31 

Single  pulleys  are  hung  at  the  rafters,  and,  by  means  of  a  rope 
fastened  to  the  lower  edge  of  the  curtain  frames,  it  is  easily  raised  or 
lowered  and  kept  in  place.  At  one  end  of  the  roosts  a  space  of  3  feet 
is  reserved  as  a  cage  for  broody  hens.  This  being  behind  the  curtain, 
the  birds  have  the  same  night  temperature  when  they  are  transferred 
from  the  roosts  to  the  cage. 

Six  trap  nests  are  placed  at  one  end  of  each  room  and  four  at  the 
other.  They  are  put  near  the  front  so  that  the  light  may  be  good  for 
reading  and  recording  the  numbers  on  the  leg  bands  of  the  birds. 
Several  shelves  are  put  on  the  walls  18  inches  above  the  floor  for  shell, 
grit,  bone,  etc.  The  doors  which  open  from  one  room  to  another 
throughout  the  building  are  frames  covered  with  10-ounce  duck,  so  as  to 
make  them  light,  and  are  hung  with  double-action  spring  hinges.  The 
advantages  of  having  all  doors  push  from  the  person  passing  through 
are  very  great;  otherwise  they  would  hinder  the  passage  of  the  attend- 
ant with  his  baskets  and  pails.  Strips  of  old  rubber  belting  are  nailed 
around  the  studs  which  the  doors  rub  against  as  thejf  swing  to,  so  as 
just  to  catch  and  hold  them  from  being  opened  by  the  wind.  Tight 
board  partitions  are  used  between  the  pens  instead  of  wire,  so  as  to 
prevent  drafts/  An  outside  platform  3  feet  wide  extends  across  both 
ends  and  the  entire  front  of  the  building. 

This  house  accommodates  350  hens — 50  in  each  20-foot  section — is 
well  made  of  good  material,  and  should  prove  to  be  durable.  A 
rougher  building,  with  plain  instead  of  trap  nests,  and  with  the  roof 
and  walls  covered  with  some  of  the  prepared  materials  instead  of 
shingles,  could  be  built  for  less  money,  and  would  probably  furnish  as 
comfortable  quarters  for  the  birds. 

Curtain-front  house  No.  3  (pi.  3)  was  constructed  in  1904.  It  is  16 
feet  wide  by  120  feet  long,  and  is  of  the  same  style  as  No.  2,  except 
that  it  is  wider.  There  are  four  pens  in  the  building,  each  16  feet 
wide  by  30  feet  long.  Two  of  the  pens  are  arranged  for  100  hens  each, 
and  two  for  150  each.  For  the  150  hens  three  roosts  instead  of  two 
are  required. 

The  cloth-covered  fronts  of  the  closets  where  100  and  150  hens  roost 
are  of  the  same  size,  and  it  became  evident  early  in  the  first  winter 
that  the  supply  of  fresh  air  to  the  largest  flock  was  not  sufficient.  It 
was  not  practicable  to  increase  materially  the  cloth  surface  and  allow 
more  air  to  filter  in,  so  three  openings  were  made  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  curtain  frame,  through  which  better  ventilation  could  be  secured. 
The  openings  are  6  inches  wide  by  30  inches  long  and  are  provided 
with  wooden  shutters.  These  are  kept  wide  open  into  the  outer  room 
during  mild  nights,  but  when  high  winds  prevail  and  the  temperature 
falls  to  10  or  more  degrees  below  zero  the  openings  are  half  closed. 

The  walls  of  the  elevated  closet  are  packed  with  sawdust  4  inches  in 
thickness,  and  the  curtains  fit  very  closely,  leaving  only  small  cracks. 


32  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

The  10-ounce  duck  of  which  the  curtains  are  made  is  not  oiled.  The 
supply  of  fresh  air  is  mostly  admitted  through  the  cloth,  while  the 
breathed  warmer  air  passes  off  through  the  openings  above.  By  this 
arrangement  the  birds  are  not  in  drafts  or  currents  of  air.  Where 
three  roosts  are  arranged  abreast,  instead  of  two,  the  openings  are 
absolutely  essential,  and  for  smaller  flocks  they  are  convenient  during 
the  mild  nights,  especially  toward  spring. 

THE    LATEST    FORM    OF   CURTAIN-FRONT    HOUSE. 

During  the  summer  of  1905  the  management  of  a  commercial  poul- 
try plant  in  Orono  built  a  curtain-front  house  to  accommodate  2,000 
laying  hens.  This  was  built  in  accordance  with  unpublished  plans  pre- 
pared by  the  Maine  Experiment  Station.  The  description  is  here  given 
as  it  represents  the  latest  development  of  this  style  of  house  (pi.  5). 

The  house  is  20  feet  wide  by  400  feet  long,  and  is  divided  into  20 
sections,  each  being  20  feet  square.  It  is  on  the  same  general  plan  as 
houses  Nos.  2  and  3  just  described,  but  house  No.  2  is  12  feet  wide, 
house  No.  3  16  feet  wide,  and  this  one  20  feet  wide.  The  widths  have 
been  increased  in  the  last  two  houses,  as  experience  has  shown  the 
advisability  of  it.  At  first  it  was  thought  the  houses  should  be  nar- 
row so  they  might  dry  out  readily,  but  the  20-foot  house  dries  out 
satisfactorily,  as  the  opening  in  the  front  is  placed  high  up  so  that  the 
sun  shines  in  on  the  floor  to  the  back  in  the  shortest  winter  days. 

The  economy  in  the  cost  of  the  wide  house  over  the  narrow  ones, 
when  space  is  considered,  is  evident.  The  front  and  back  walls  in  the 
narrow  house  cost  about  as  much  per  lineal  foot  as  those  in  the  wide 
house,  and  the  greatly  increased  floor  space  is  secured  by  building  in  a 
strip  of  floor  and  roof  running  lengthwise  of  the  building.  The  cany- 
ing  capacit}'  of  a  house  20  feet  wide  is  66  per  cent  greater  than  that 
of  a  house  12  feet  wide,  and  it  is  secured  b}^  merely  building  additional 
floor  and  roof.  The  walls,  doors,  and  windows  remain  the  same  as  in 
the  narrow  house,  except  that  the  front  wall  is  made  a  little  higher. 
Three  sills  which  are  6  inches  square  run  lengthwise  of  the  house,  the 
central  one  supporting  the  floor  timbers  in  the  middle.  They  rest  on 
a  rough  stone  wall,  high  enough  from  the  ground  for  dogs  to  go  under 
the  building  to  look  after  rats  and  skunks  that  might  incline  to  make 
their  homes  there.  The  stone  wall  rests  on  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
and  there  are  openings  in  it  like  cellar  windows  every  20  feet  to  allow 
the  air  to  draw  through  and  keep  the  basement  dry  during  the  sum- 
mer. The  floor  timbers  are  2  by  8  inches  in  size  and  rest  wholly  on 
top  of  the  sills.  All  wall  studs  rest  on  the  sills;  the  front  ones  are  8 
feet  long,  and  the  back  ones  6  feet  6  inches  long.  The  two  sides  of 
the  roof  are  unequal  in  width,  the  ridge  being  8  feet  from  the  front 
wall.  The  height  of  the  ridge  from  the  sill  to  the  extreme  top  is  12 
feet  6  inches.  All  studding  is  2  by  4  inches  in  size  and  the  rafters  are 


BUL.  No.  90,  B.  A.  I. 


PLATE  5. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT   STATION.  33 

2  by  5  inches.     The  building  is  boarded  with  1-inch  boards,  and  is 
papered  and  shingled  with  good  cedar  shingles  on  walls  and  roof.     The 
floor  is  of  two  thicknesses  of  hemlock  boards  which  break  joints  in 
the  laying. 

The  building  is  divided  by  tight  board  partitions  into  twenty  sections, 
each  section  being  20  feet  long.  All  of  the  sections  are  alike  in  con- 
struction and  arrangement.  The  front  side  of  each  section  has  two 
storm  windows  of  twelve  lights  of  10  by  12  inch  glass.  These  windows 
are  screwed  on  upright  and  2  feet  8  inches  from  each  end  of  the  room; 
they  are  3  feet  above  the  floor.  The  distance  between  the  windows  is 
8  feet  10  inches,  and  the  top  part  of  it  to  a  depth  of  3  feet  6  inches 
from  the  plate  is  not  boarded  but  is  left  open  to  be  covered  by  the 
cloth  curtain  when  necessary.  This  leaves  a  tight  wall  3  feet  10  inches 
high  extending  from  the  bottom  of  the  opening  down  to  the  floor, 
which  prevents  the  wind  from  blowing  directly  on  the  birds  when  they 
are  on  the  floor.  A  door  is  made  in  this  part' of  the  front  wall  for  the 
attendant  to  pass  through  when  the  curtain  is  open.  A  door  16  inches 
high  by  18  inches  wide  is  placed  close  to  the  floor  under  one  of  the 
windows  for  the  birds  to  pass  through  to  the  yards  in  front.  A  simi- 
lar door  is  in  the  center  of  the  back  wall  to  admit  them  to  the  rear 
yard  when  it  is  used. 

A  light  frame  made  of  1  by  3  inch  pine  strips  and  1  by  6  inch  cross- 
ties  is  covered  with  10-ounce  white  duck  and  hinged  at  the  top  of  the 
front  opening,  which  it  covers  when  closed  down.  This  curtain  is 
easily  turned  up  into  the  room,  where  it  is  caught  and  held  by  swing- 
ing hooks  until  released. 

The  roost  platform  is  made  tight  and  extends  along  the  whole  length 
of  the  room  against  the  back  wall.  It  is  4  feet  10  inches  wide  and  3 
feet  above  the  floor,  being  high  enough  for  a  person  to  get  under  it 
comfortably  when  necessary  to  catch  or  handle  the  birds.  There  are 
three  roosts  framed  together  in  two  10-foot  sections.  The  tops  of  the 
roosts  are  1  foot  above  the  platform  and  hinged  to  the  back  wall,  so 
they  may  be  turned  up  out  of  the  wa,y  when  the  platform  is  being 
cleaned.  The  back  roost  is  12  inches  from  the  wall,  and  the  spaces 
between  the  next  two  are  16  inches.  They  are  made  of  2  by  3  inch 
spruce  lumber  placed  on  edge  with  the  upper  corners  rounded  off. 
The  roosting  closet  is  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  room  by  curtains 
similar  to  the  one  described  above.  For  convenience  in  handling 
there  are  two  of  these  curtains,  each  10  feet  long.  They  are  3  feet 
wide  and  are  hinged  at  the  top  so  as  to  be  turned  out  and  hooked  up. 
The  space  above  this  curtain  is  ceiled  and  in  it  are  two  openings  each 

3  feet  long  and  6  inches  wide  for  ventilating  the  roosting  closet  when 
necessaiT.     In  every  compartment  there  is  a  door  placed  5  inches  out 
from  the  edge  of  the  roost  platform.     These  doors  are  3  feet  wide 
and  7  feet  high,  divided  in  the  middle  lengthwise,  and  each  half  is 


34  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

hung  with  double-acting  spring  hinges  allowing  it  to  swing  open  both 
ways  and  close. 

Ten  nests  are  placed,  in  two  tiers,  against  the  partition  in  each  end 
of  the  room.  They  are  of  ordinary  form,  each  nesting  space  being 
1  foot  wide,  1  foot  high,  and  1  foot  long,  with  the  entrances  near  the 
partition,  away  from  the  light,  and  with  hinged  covers  in  front  for 
the  removal  of  the  eggs.  Each  section  of  5  nests  can  be  taken  out 
without  disturbing  anything  else,  cleaned,  and  returned.  In  con- 
structing the  house  it  was  designed  to  use  these  nests  only  during  the 
present  year.  The  framework  where  they  rest  was  arranged  for  the 
use  of  trap  nests,  the  intention  now  being  to  install  them  in  October 
of  the  present  year  (1906). 

Troughs  similar  to  those  described  on  page  24  are  used  for  feeding 
dry  mash,  shell,  bone,  grit,  and  charcoal. 

Two  lines  of  4  by  4  inch  spruce  are  arranged  as  an  elevated  track 
above  the  doors.  The  track  extends  the  entire  length  of  the  building, 
and  being  faced  with  narrow  steel  bands  on  top,  a  suspended  car  is 
readily  pushed  along,  even  when  heavily  loaded.  The  car  platform 
is  2  by  8  feet  in  size,  and  is  elevated  a  foot  above  the  floor.  All  feed 
and  water  are  carried  through  the  building  on  this  car.  Ten  iron 
baskets,  into  which  the  accumulations  on  the  roost  platforms  are 
cleaned  every  morning,  are  put  on  the  car,  and  collections  are  made 
as  the  car  passes  on  through  the  pens  to  the  far  end  of  the  building, 
400  feet  away,  where  the  roost  cleanings  are  dumped  into  the  manure 
shed.  As  the  car  is  pushed  along  a  guard  at  the  front  end  comes  in 
contact  with  the  doors  and  pushes  them  open,  and  they  remain  open 
until  the  car  has  passed  on,  when  the  spring  hinges  force  them  to 
close  again.  This  car  is  a  great  saver  of  labor,  as  it  does  away  with 
nearly  all  carrying  by  the  workmen.  It  has  enabled  one  man  to  take 
good  care  of  the  2,000  hens  from  November  to  March,  except  on 
Saturdays,  when  the  litter  has  been  removed  and  renewed  by  other 
men. 

At  one  end  of  the  building  there  is  a  temporary  feed  and  water 
house,  also  used  for  dish  washing  and  scalding,  where  the  car  remains 
when  not  in  use. 

There  is  a  walk  outside  of  the  building,  extending  along  its  entire 
front.  It  is  4  feet  wide,  made  of  2-inch  plank,  and  is  elevated  2  feet 
above  the  floor  of  the  building,  which  allows  the  doors  below  it,  through 
which  the  birds  pass  to  the  front  j^ards,  to  be  opened  and  closed  with- 
out interference.  The  door  which  opens  out  of  each  room  through  the 
curtain  section  is  above  the  outside  walk  and  necessitates  stepping  up 
or  down  when  passing  through,  which  is  not  a  very  serious  objection, 
as  the  door  is  used  but  little  in  the  daily  work,  but  mostly  in  the 
weekly  cleaning  out  and  renewing  of  the  floor  litter.  A  guard  of  wire 
poultry  netting  1  foot  wide,  along  the  outside  of  the  walk,  prevents 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  35 

the  birds  from  flying  from  the  yards  up  to  the  walk.  The  advantage 
of  the  elevated  walk  over  one  on  a  level  with  the  sill  of  the  building 
is  that  it  is  unobstructed  by  gates,  which,  were  the  low  walk  used, 
would  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  birds  from  passing  from  one  yard 
to  another. 

SATISFACTORY   RESULTS   WITH   CURTAIN-FRONT   HOUSES. 

The  "pioneer"  house  has  been  in  use  for  five  years  with  50  pullets 
in  it  each  year,  the  No.  2  house  three  years  with  300  pullets  each  year, 
the  No.  3  house  two  years,  and  the  house  last  described  one  year. 
Besides  these  four  houses,  the  Maine  Station  has  had  the  use  of  another 
house  of  the  open-front  style  of  construction  for  four  yesn's  with  about 
200  1-year-old  breeding  hens  in  it  each  year. 

Maine  is  subject  to  long  spells  of  severe  cold  weather,  with  the 
temperature  considerably  below  zero  at  night,  and  about  zero  during 
the  day,  and  with  a  good  deal  of  high  wind.  During  such  rough 
weather  the  bedding  on  the  floor  has  kept  comparatively  dry;  and  the 
voidings  on  the  platform,  when  the  curtains  are  raised  in  the  morn- 
ings, have  been  but  slightly  frozen.  The  yields  of  eggs  during  severe 
weather  and  immediately  following  it  are  rarely  below  those  imme- 
diately preceding  it.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  had  the  weather 
been  mild  all  that  time  the  hens  probably  would  have  increased  in  pro- 
duction rather  than  remained  stationary.  They  are  doubtless  affected 
by  the  severe  weather,  but  not  seriously,  as  they  uniformly  begin  to 
increase  in  production  very  soon  after  the  weather  becomes  normal 
for  midwinter. 

These  curtain-front  houses  have  all  proved  eminently  satisfactory. 
Not  a  case  of  colds  or  snuffles  has  developed  from  sleeping  in  the  warm 
elevated  closets,  with  their  cloth  fronts,  and  then  going  directly  down 
into  the  cold  room,  onto  the  dry  straw,  and  spending  the  day  in  the 
open  air.  The  egg  yields  per  bird  have  been  as  good  in  these  houses 
as  in  the  warmed  ones.  The  purpose  of  having  rooms  and  flocks  of 
different  sizes  was  to  compare  the  results  of  the  welfare  and  egg  yields 
of  the  birds  under  the  different  conditions. 

THE  YARDS. 

The  yards  to  most  poultry  houses  are  at  the  south,  or  on  the  shel- 
tered sides  of  the  buildings,  to  afford  protection  during  late  fall  and 
early  spring,  when  cold  winds  are  common.  The  warmed  house  has 
yards  on  both  north  and  south  sides,  with  convenient  gates.  The 
south  yards  are  used  until  the  cold  winds  are  over  in  spring,  when  the 
hens  are  allowed  to  go  to  the  north  3Tards,  which  are  well  set  in  grass 
sod.  With  the  curtain-front  houses  the  yards  are  on  the  north  side 
only.  The  birds  are  kept  in  the  building  until  the  weather  is  suitable 
for  opening  the  small  doors  in  the  rear  wall.  The  necessity  for  getting 


36  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

them  out  of  the  open-front  house,  where  they  are  really  subject  to 
most  of  the  out-of-door  conditions  during  the  daytime,  is  not  so  great 
as  when  they  are  confined  in  closed  houses  with  walls  and  glass 
windows.  The  clear,  open  fronts  of  the  curtain-front  houses  allow 
teams  to  pass  close  to  the  open  door  of  the  pens  for  cleaning  out  worn 
material  and  delivering  new  bedding,  and  also  allow  attendants  to 
enter  and  leave  all  pens  from  the  outside  walk  and  reach  the  feed  room 
without  passing  through  intervening  pens. 

TRAP  NESTS. 

The  trap  nest  in  use  at  the  Maine  Station  is  original  with  this  station. 
It  is  very  simple,  inexpensive,  easy  to  attend  to,  and  certain  in  its 
action.  It  is  a  box- like  structure,  without  front,  end,  or  cover,  28  inches 
long,  13  inches  wide,  and  16  inches  deep,  inside  measure.  A  division 
board  with  a  circular  opening  7i  inches  in  diameter  is  placed  across 
the  box  12  inches  from  the  rear  end  and  15  inches  from  the  front  end. 
The  rear  section  is  the  nest  proper.  Instead  of  a  closely  made  door  at 
the  entrance,  a  light  frame  of  1  by  1£  inch  material  is  covered  with 
wire  netting  of  1-inch  mesh.  The  door  is  10  inches  wide  by  10  inches 
high,  and  does  not  fill  the  entire  entrance,  a  space  of  2  inches  being 
left  at  each  side,  to  avoid  friction.  It  is  hinged  at  the  top  and  opens 
up  into  the  box.  The  hinges  are  placed  on  the  front  of  the  door  rather 
than  at  the  center  or  rear,  the  better  to  secure  complete  closing  action. 
The  trap  consists  of  one  piece  of  stiff  wire  about  three-sixteenths  of  an 
inch  in  diameter  and  22  inches  long.  This  piece  of  wire  is  shaped  so 
that  a  section  of  it,  11  inches  long,  rests  directly  across  the  circular 
opening  in  the  division  board,  and  is  held  in  place  by  two  loosely  fit- 
ting clamps,  the  slots  being  long  enough  to  allow  the  wire  to  work  up 
and  down  about  3  inches.  The  next  section  of  the  wire  is  8  inches 
long,  and  it  is  bent  so  that  it  is  at  right  angles  with  the  11-inch  sec- 
tion. It  passes  along  the  side  of  the  box  11  inches  above  the  floor, 
back  toward  the  entrance  door,  and  is  fastened  strongly  to  the  wall  by 
staples,  but  yet  loosely  enough  so  that  the  wire  can  roll  easily.  The 
remaining  section  of  the  wire,  which  is  3  inches  long,  is  bent  toward 
the  center  of  the  box,  with  an  upward  inclination,  so  that  it  supports 
the  door  when  it  is  open  and  rests  upon  it.  The  end  of  the  wire  is 
turned  over  smoothly,  forming  a  notch  into  which  the  door  may  slip 
when  opened. 

As  the  hen  passes  in  under  the  open  door  and  then  through  the  cir- 
cular opening  to  the  nest,  she  raises  herself  so  that  her  keel  may  pass 
over  the  lower  part  of  the  division  board;  at  the  same  time  her  back 
presses  against  the  horizontal  wire  as  she  passes  it,  and  lifts  it  so  that 
the  end  supporting  the  door  slides  from  under  it.  Thus  released,  the 
door  swings  down  and  passes  a  wire  spring  near  the  bottom  of  the  box 
at  the  entrance,  which  locks  it  and  prevents  the  hen  from  escaping 
and  others  from  entering. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  37 

The  trap  nests  are  placed  four  or  more  in  a  block,  slide  in  and  out  like 
drawers,  and  can  be  carried  away  for  cleaning  when  necessary.  Four 
nests  in  a  pen  accommodate  20  hens,  by  the  attendant  going  through 
the  pens  once  an  hour,  or  a  little  oftener,  during  that  part  of  the  day 
when  the  hens  are  busiest.  Earlier  and  later  in  the  day  his  visits  are 
not  so  frequent.  The  double  box  with  the  nest  in  the  rear  is  neces- 
sary. When  a  hen  has  laid  an  egg,  and  desires  to  leave  the  nest,  she 
steps  out  into  the  front  space  and  remains  there  until  she  is  released. 
With  only  one  section  she  would  be  likely  to  crush  her  egg  by  step- 
ping upon  it,  and  thus  learn  the  pernicious  habit  of  egg  eating. 

To  remove  a  hen  the  nest  is  pulled  part  way  out,  and,  as  it  has  no 
cover  she  is  readity  caught,  the  number  on  her  leg  band  is  noted,  and 
the  proper  entry  is  made  on  the  record  sheet.  After  having  been 
taken  off  a  few  times  the  hens  do  not  object  to  being  handled;  most  of 
them  remaining  quiet,  apparently  expecting  to  be  picked  up. 

Before  commencing  the  use  of  trap  nests  it  was  thought  that  some 
hens  might  be  irritated  by  the  trapping  operation  and  object  to  the 
noise  incident  to  it,  but  such  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case.  The  trap 
nests  have  been  used  at  the  Maine  Station  for  Leghorns,  Brahmas, 
Wyandottes,  and  Plymouth  Rocks. 

The  amount  of  time  required  in  caring  for  the  trap  nests  can  only 
be  estimated,  since  the  attendant's  time  is  divided  with  other  duties. 
The  time  varies  from  one  day  to  another  and  with  the  number  of  nests 
in  use.  By  noting  the  total  time  used' each  dayin  caring  for  the  nests 
when  the  hens  were  laying  most  heavily,  it  has  been  estimated  that 
one  active  person  devoting  his  entire  time  to  trap  nests  could  take  care 
of  400  to  500  nests  used  by  2,000  to  2,500  hens.  When  commencing 
the  year's  work  he  would  need  assistance  in  banding  the  birds,  but 
after  that  was  done  he  could  care  for  the  nests  without  assistance  until 
midsummer,  when  the  egg  jaelds  would  probably  be  diminished  and 
a  part  of  his  time  could  be  spared  for  other  duties. 

FEEDING  THE  HENS. 

For  about  twentj^-five  years  the  same  family  of  Barred  Plymouth 
Rocks  has  been  carried  at  the  University  of  Maine,  and  one  way  has 
been  learned  to  feed  and  handle  them  to  secure  eggs  and  to  avoid  the 
losses  from  overfatness  which  are  so  common  to  mature  hens  of  that 
breed.  It  is  not  claimed  or  thought  that  the  methods  of  feeding  here 
given  are  ideal;  other  methods  may  be  as  good  or  even  better.  These 
methods  have,  however,  given  good  results  at  the  Maine  Station. 
While  it  is  true  that  only  the  full-fed  hen  can  la}^  to  the  limit  of  her 
capacity,  it  is  equally  true  that  full  feeding  of  the  Plymouth  Rocks, 
unless  correctly  done,  results  disastrously. 

Years  ago  the  "morning  mash,"  which  was  regarded  as  necessary 
to  "  warm  up  the  cold  hen"  so  she  could  lay  that  day,  was  gi^en  up, 


38  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

and  the  mash  was  fed  at  night.  The  birds  for  several  years  prior  to 
1903  were  fed  daily  throughout  the  year  as  follows:  Each  pen  of  22 
received  1  pint  of  wheat  in  the  deep  litter  early  in  tne  morning.  At 
9.30  a.  m.  one-half  pint  of  oats  was  fed  to  them  in  the  same  way.  At 
1  p.  m.  one-half  pint  of  cracked  corn  was  given  in  the  litter  as  before. 
At  3  p.  m.  in  winter  and  4  p.  m.  in  summer  they  were  given  all  the 
mash  they  would  eat  up  clean  in  half  an  hour. 

The  mash  was  made  of  the  following  mixture:  200  pounds  of  wheat 
bran,  100  pounds  of  corn  meal,  100  pounds  of  wheat  middlings,  100 
pounds  of  linseed  meal,  100  pounds  of  gluten  meal,  and  100  pounds  of 
beef  scrap.  The  mash  was  used  with  one-fourth  its  bulk  of  clover 
leaves  and  heads  obtained  from  the  feeding  floor  in  the  cattle  barns. 
The  clover  was  covered  with  hot  water  and  allowed  to  stand  for  three  or 
four  hours.  The  mash  was  made  quite  dry,  and  rubbed  down  with 
the  shovel  in  mixing,  so  that  the  pieces  of  clover  were  mixed  in  and 
became  covered  with  the  meal. 

Cracked  bone,  oyster  shell,  grit,  and  water  were  placed  before  the 
chickens  all  the  time.  In  winter  two  large  mangolds  were  fed  daily  to 
the  birds  in  each  pen.  They,  were  stuck  onto  large  nails  which  were 
partly  driven  into  the  wall  a  foot  and  a  half  above  the  floor. 

Very  few  soft-shelled  eggs  were  laid,  and  so  far  as  known  not  an 
egg  has  been  eaten  by  the  hens  thus  fed. 

The  records  of  several  years'  feeding  show  that  from  50  to  55 
pounds  of  the  dry  materials  of  which  the  mash  was  made  up  were 
eaten  by  each  hen  in  a  year.  The  quantity  of  grain  fed  in  the  litter 
was  the  same  every  day,  winter  or  summer.  The  quantity  of  mash 
was  variable,  being  all  they  would  eat  in  half  an  hour  at  the  close 
of  the  day.  They  ate  more  in  cold  weather  than  in  warm,  also  con- 
siderably more  when  they  were  laying  heavily  than  when  they  were 
yielding  few  eggs. 

The  feeding  above  described  was  with  hens  in  a  house  warmed  by 
hot-water  pipes,  so  that  the  temperature  was  above  the  freezing  point 
at  all  times.  The  amount  of  feed  required  by  the  birds  kept  in  this 
house  for  several  years  was  always  less  during  the  winter  season  than 
for  birds  kept  in  the  colder  curtain-front  houses. 

In  addition  to  the  50  to  55  pounds  of  meal  in  the  mash,  the  hens 
in  this  house  have  averaged  each  year  18.2  pounds  of  wheat,  6.4 
pounds  of  cracked  corn,  5.8  pounds  of  oats,  5.9  pounds  of  oyster  shell, 
3.2  pounds  of  dry  poultry  bone,  2.9  pounds  of  mica  grit,  and  40 
pounds  of  mangolds.  The  straw  for  litter  has  averaged  36  pounds 
per  bird. 

CRACKED   CORN    AND    BEEF   SCRAP   AS  A    SUBSTITUTE    FOR    MOIST   MASH. 

In  November,  1903,  300  pullets  hatched  in  April  and  May  were  put 
into  6  pens  in  the  open-front  house,  and  the  birds  in  all  pens  were 
selected  so  as  to  have  the  lots  equal  in  quality. 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT    STATION.  39 

One  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  birds  (lot  No.  1)  were  fed  on  dry 
grains  in  the  litter  during  the  day,  and  a  full  feed  of  moist  inash  was 
given  toward  evening.  The  mash  was  made  as  above  described. 

The  other  150  birds  (lot  No.  2)  were  fed  the  same  quantities  and 
kinds  of  dry  grains  in  the  litter,  but  instead  of  moist  mash  they  were 
given  all  they  would  eat  of  dry  cracked  corn  in  troughs  at  evening. 
Dry  beef  scraps  were  kept  within  their  reach  at  all  times.  Both  lots 
were  constant^  supplied  with  oyster  shell,  dry  crushed  bone,  and 
grit.  Mangolds  were  fed  through  the  winter,  and  when  the  runs  were 
bare  in  summer  other  green  feed  was  supplied. 

The  materials  used  by  each  lot  during  the  full  year  averaged  per 
bird  as  follows: 

Lot  No.  1,  with  mash. — Mash,  53.3  pounds;  wheat,  23.8  pounds; 
cracked  corn  in  litter,  7.7  pounds;  oats,  6.9  pounds;  oyster  shell,  8.5 
pounds;  bone,  4.4  pounds;  grit,  4.2  pounds;  mangolds,  40  pounds; 
straw,  36  pounds. 

Lot  No.  2,  ivithout  mash. — Cracked  corn,  45.4  pounds;  wheat,  23.8 
pounds;  cracked  corn  in  litter,  7.7  pounds;  oats,  6.9  pounds;  oyster 
shell,  4.4  pounds;  bone,  1.7  pounds;  grit,  2.9  pounds;  beef  scrap,  14.7 
pounds;  mangolds,  40  pounds;  straw,  36  pounds. 

Cost  of  feed  and  straw:  Lot  No.  1,  $1.73;  lot  No.  2,  $1.69. 

Cost  of  feed  without  mangolds:  Lot  No.  1,  $1.48;  lot  No.  2,  $1.43. 

Eggs  yielded:  Lot  No/ 1,  151;  lot  No.  2,  149. 

Comparisons  of  the  costs  of  the  two  rations  and  the  egg  yields  of  the 
birds  fed  upon  them  do  not  show  very  great  advantages  of  one  ration 
over  the  other.  There  were  no  marked  differences  in  the  appearance 
and  health  of  the  birds  in  the  two  lots;  both  were  in  good  general 
health.  The  free  use  of  cracked  corn  cheapened  the  cost  of  the  ration, 
and  the  egg  yield  was  not  depressed  sufficiently  to  indicate  that  this 
ration  was  faulty  in  its  production.  When  compared  with  the  feed 
required  for  a  hen  for  one  year  in  the  warmed  house,  which  was  about 
95  pounds,  the  109  pounds  used  in  this  test  is  an  increase  of  nearly  15 
per  cent. 

As  the  birds  in  each  house  laid  about  the  same  number  of  eggs,  it 
seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  excess  of  feed  was  needed  for 
maintenance  in  the  colder  house,  where  the  birds  were  in  outdoor 
temperature  during  the  daytime  throughout  the  year. 

Although  as  many  eggs  were  yielded  by  the  birds  eating  less  feed 
in  the  warmed  house,  the  greater  vigor  and  smaller  loss  among  birds 
in  the  open -front  house  more  than  compensated  for  the  increased  cost 
of  maintenance. 

DRY   FEEDING. 

The  comparison  of  moist  mash  with  cracked  corn  and  beef  scrap 
indicated  that  the  moist  mash  was  not  essential  to  egg  production. 
Beginning  the  1st  of  November,  1903,  550  pullets  hatched  in  April 


40  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

and  May  were  fed  wholly  on  dry  feed.  They  were  in  the  curtain- 
front  houses,  with  warm,  elevated  roosting  closets  and  in  flocks  of  50, 
100,  and  150.  At  5  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  flocks  of  50  birds  were 
given  2  quarts  of  cracked  corn;  at  half  past  10  o'clock  they  had  1 
quart  of  wheat  and  1  quart  of  oats.  This  dry  material  was  all  spread 
•on  the  litter  on  the  floor,  but  was  not  raked  in.  Along  one  side  of  the 
pens  were  feed  troughs  with  slatted  fronts,  in  which  was  kept  a  supply 
of  the  dry  material  of  which  the  moist  mash,  before  described,  was 
composed.  These  troughs  were  never  allowed  to  remain  empty  when 
the  supply  was  exhausted.  The  dry  mash  was  constantly  within 
the  reach  of  all  birds  and  they  helped  themselves  at  will.  Oyster 
shell,  dry  cracked  bone,  grit,  and  charcoal  were  accessible  at  all  times. 
A  moderate  supply  of  raw  mangolds  and  plenty  of  clean  water  was 
furnished.  When  the  birds  were  first  put  upon  this  ration  they 
were  not  acquainted  with  the  dry  mixture  in  the  troughs  and  ate  of  it 
sparingly,  but  in  three  or  four  days  they  were  using  as  much  of  it  as 
at  any  time,  except  when  laying  heavily.  When  the  feeds  of  cracked 
corn,  wheat,  and  oats  were  given,  the  birds  were  always  ready  and 
anxious  for  them,  and  would  scratch  in  the  litter  for  the  very  last 
kernel  before  going  to  the  troughs,  where  an  abundance  of  feed  was 
in  store.  It  was  very  evident  that  they  liked  the  broken  and  whole 
grains  better  than  the  mixture  of  the  fine  materials,  yet  they  by  no 
means  disliked  the  latter,  for  they  helped  themselves  to  it — a  mouthful 
or  two  at  a  time — whe'never  they  seemed  to  need  it,  and  never  went  to 
roost  with  empty  crops,  so  far  as  we  could  discover.  They  apparently 
did  not  like  it  well  enough  to  gorge  themselves  with  it  and  sit  down, 
loaf,  get  overfat,  and  lay  soft-shelled  eggs,  as  is  so  commonly  the  case 
with  Plymouth  Rocks  when  they  are  given  warm  morning  mashes  in 
troughs. 

The  weights  of  the  feed  eaten  were  accurately  kept  for  the  month 
of  March,  1905.  During  the  31  days  of  that  month  the  550  birds  con- 
sumed on  the  average  the  following  materials  per  bird:  Cracked  corn, 
2  pounds;  wheat,  1.09  pounds;  oats,  0.81  pound;  mash,  5.68  pounds; 
shell,  0.52  pound;  bone,  0.25  pound;  grit,  0.31  pound;  mangolds,  3.30 
pounds. 

The  average  egg  yield  of  the  birds  in  flocks  of  50  and  100  was  147 
eggs  for  each  hen  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1905.  The  dry 
feeding,  as  judged  by  the  health  of  the  birds  and  the  egg  production, 
is  fully  as  satisfactory  as  when  the  moist  mash  is  used.  The  dry 
method  has  some  advantages  and  apparently  no  disadvantages.  The 
dry  mash  is  put  in  the  troughs  at  any  convenient  time,  only  guarding 
against  an  exhaustion  of  the  supply.  There  is  an  entire  avoidance  of 
the  scrambling  and  crowding  that  always  occur  at  trough  feeding 
when  that  is  made  a  meal 'of  the  day,  whether  it  beat  morning  or 
evening.  There  are  no  tailings  to  be  gathered  up  or  wasted,  as  is 


MAINE    AGRICULTURAL    EXPERIMENT   STATION.  41 

common  when  a  full  meal  of  mash  is  given  at  night,  and  the  labor  is 
much  less,  a  person  being  able  to  care  for  more  birds  than  when  the 
regular  evening  meal  is  given. 

SIZE  OF  FLOCKS  AND  HOUSING  SPACE. 

The  cost  of  housing  poultry  is  a  very  important  item  to  the  poultry- 
man,  and  the  amount  of  floor  space  required  by  each  hen  is  a  question 
much  discussed  and  worthy  of  the  most  careful  consideration  and 
investigation.  This  question  is  being  studied  by  the  Maine  Station 
in  cooperation  with  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry.  While  it  is  still 
too  early  to  give  positive  conclusions,  an  outline  of  the  work  under 
way  and  some  of  the  results  thus  far  found  will  have  an  interest  and 
some  value. 

The  conditions  laid  down  years  ago  and  accepted  as  imperative  that 
hens  could  only  be  kept  profitably  as  layers  in  flocks  of  not  more  than 
15,  with  an  allowance  of  at  least  10  square  feet  of  floor  space  for  each 
bird,  required  large  space  for  small  numbers  of  birds,  and  the  system 
was  expensive.  The  small  pen,  even  though  containing  but  few  fowls, 
means  close  confinement  to  the  occupants.  If  one  hen  were  confined 
and  compelled  to  remain  on  the  generous  allotment  of  a  square  yard, 
life  would  be  very  unsatisfactory  to  her.  But  give  her  25  square 
yards  of  floor  room  to  roam  over  at  will  and  she  will  be  happy, 
although  she  may  meet  49  neighbors  in  her  wanderings  and  divide  the 
room  with  them;  yet  the  allotment  per  individual  hen  is  reduced  to 
one-half  a  square  yard. 

Each  of  the  pens  in  house  No.  1  has  160  feet  of  floor  space.  When 
occupied  by  22  birds  each  individual  has  a  floor  space  of  7.3  square 
feet.  Each  of  the  7  pens  in  house  No.  2  has  240  square  feet  of  floor 
space,  giving  each  of  the  50  pullets  4.8  square  feet. 

In  house  No.  3  the  four  pens  are  twice  as  large  as  those  of  house 
No.  2,  each  containing  480  square  feet.  In  each  of  two  of  the  pens 
100  pullets  are  kept,  having  4.8  square  feet  of  floor  space  to  a  bird- 
just  the  same  allotment  that  is  given  in  the  pens  of  50  birds  in  the 
No.  2  house.  The  150  birds  kept  in  each  of  the  two  other  pens  have 
only  3.2  square  feet  to  a  bird. 

Some  of  the  questions  upon  which  it  is  hoped  to  get  light  by  these 
comparisons  are:  Does  the  larger  room  have  advantages  over  the 
smaller  one,  when  the  average  floor  space  to  a  bird  is  the  same,  by 
giving  greater  opportunities  and  freedom  to  the  birds?  Are  there 
disadvantages  when  the  number  of  birds  in  the  flock  is  increased,  the 
proportioned  floor  space  per  bird  remaining  the  same? 

Should  the  tests  indicate  that  the  greater  liberties  of  the  larger  pens 
are  advantageous,  the  question  arises:  Are  the  advantages  such  that 
the  number  of  birds  in  the  large  pens  can  be  increased  and  the  ratio 
of  egg  production  be  maintained?  Also,  how  far  can  the  net  profit 


42  POULTRY    INVESTIGATIONS. 

from  the  pens  be  increased  by  increasing  the  number  of  birds  in  each 
pen,  although  the  average  egg  yield  be  diminished  by  the  greater 
density  to  which  the  pens  are  occupied? 

So  far  as  health  and  egg  production  are  concerned,  thus  far  there  is 
little  to  choose  between  the  pens  containing  22,  50,  and  100  birds, 
with  7.3  and  4.8  square  feet  to  a  hen.  The  fowls  in  the  150-bird  pens, 
for  reasons  which  are  not  attributed  to  the  increased  numbers  or 
diminished  floor  space,  did  not  do  as  well  in  1904-5  as  those  in  the 
other  pens. 

With  pens  of  the  same  style  and  arrangement,  and  birds  matched  in 
age,  development,  and  breed,  with  the  same  system  of  feeding  and 
attendance,  and  with  experiments  with  large  numbers  of  birds  and 
extending  over  a  number  of  years,  it  is  hoped  to  obtain  data  regarding 
the  sizes  of  rooms  and  numbers  in  flocks  which  may  be  of  great  value 
to  the  poultry  industry  of  the  country. 


O 


CONTROL    AND    ERADICATION    OF    CoNTAl  I  [<  )f 

s  in  charge  of  dixtrirts. 


A     001  083  189     9 


Dr.    K.  A.   Ramsay,   room  :«()  Quincy   Building. 

Denver.  Colo.,  in  general  charge  of  eradication 

of  scabies  of  sheep  and  cattle  in  tin-  \\Vst. 
Albuquerque,  N.  Mex.—  I'lr.  Louis  Metsker,  room 

22  N.  T.  Annijo  Building. 
Denver,    Colo.— Dr.    Lowell    Clarke,    room    320 

Quincy  Building. 


Fargo.  X.  Dak.— Dr.  R.  H.  Treacy. 

Kansas  City,  Kans.— Albert  Dean,  room  :i'28  Live 

Stock  Kxclunge. 
Salt    Lake  City.  Utah.-— George  S.   Hiekox,   room 

21  Karfle  Block. 


INSPECTION    OF    LIVE   STOCK    FOR   EXPORT. 


Baltimore,  Md.— Dr.  H.  A.  Hedrick,  215  St.  Paul 

street. 

New  York,  X.  Y.— Dr.  W.  H.  Rose,  18  Broadway. 
Xori'olk,  Vn.— Dr.  G.  C.  Faville,  P.  O.  box  7%. 


e. 


Philadelphia,  Pa.— Dr.  C.  A.  Schanfler,  134  Smith 

Second  street. 
Portland,  Me.— Dr.  F.  \V.  Huntington,  U.  S.  cua- 

toms  office,  Grand  Trunk  R.  R.  wharf. 


INSPECTION    AND   QUARANTINE   OF    IMPORTED    ANIMALS. 


Quarantine  stations. 


Athenin.  N.  J.  (for  the  port  of  Xew  York).— Dr. 
George  VV.  Pope,  superintendent. 

Halethorp.  Md.  (for  the  port  of  Baltimore). — Wil- 
liam H.  Wade,  superintendent. 


Littleton,  Mass,  (for  the  port  of  Boston).— Dr. 
J.  F.  Ryder,  inspector  in  charge,  141  Milk  street, 
Boston,  Muss. 


Inspectors  on  the  Canadian  border. 


Calais.  Me.— Dr.  H.  T.  Potter. 

Carthage.  N.  Y.— Dr.  W.  S.  Corlis. 

Detroit.  Mich. — Dr.  L.  K.  Green,  care  Hammond, 

Stan. list)  A:  Co. 

Fort  Fairiield.  Me.— Dr.  F.  M.  Perry. 
Maloiie.  X.  Y.— Dr.  H.  D.  Mayne. 
Newport,  Yt.— Dr.  G.  W.  Ward. 


Ogdensburg,  X.  Y.— Dr.  Charles  Cowie. 
Orono.  Me.— Dr.  F.  L.  Russell. 
Port  Huron,  Mich.— Dr.  David  Gumming,  912  La- 
peer  avenue. 

St.  Albans.  Vt.— Dr.  C.  L.  Morin. 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Mich!— Dr.  J.  F.  Deadman. 


Inspectors  on  the  Mexican  border. 


El  Paso,  Tex.— Dr.  Thomas  A.  Bray. 

San  Antonio,  Tex. — Dr.  Joseph  W.  Parker. 


San  Diego,  Cal.— Dr.  Robert  Darling,  care  Charles 
S.  Hardv. 


VETERINARY    INSPECTORS   STATIONED    ABROAD. 


Dr.  W.  H.  Wray,  34  Streatham  Hill,  London,  s.  W., 
England,  in  charge  for  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land. 


Dr.  T.  A.  Geddes,  care  U.  S.  consulate,  Liverpool 

England. 
|    Dr.  Y.  A.  Ncirgaard,  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 


DAIRY    INSPECTORS. 


M.  W.  Lang,  423  Marine  Building,  Chicago,  111.,  in 
charge  of  renovated  butter  factories. 


Levi  Wells,  Lacey  ville,  Pa.,  in  charge  of  renovated 
butter  markets. 


